The Ocean's Rose
by Umi-chan3
Summary: §Complete§ This is set just after SM SuperS and it's a AmiMamoru pairing, and ChibiusaHelios. King Endymion must make a choice between the lives of the Inner Senshi and the life of his daughter
1. The Dark Senshi

Chapter 1: The Dark Senshi

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, and probably never will :'( *****sigh whimper * I only made up a few of the new enemies names and outfits, the idea is not mine although I wish it was, so please don't sue.

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Please R and R, I can accept corrective criticism, so say whatever you like.

Chapter 1: The Dark Senshi

It was another crystal clear day in Tokyo, and Mamoru looked out his apartment window and sighed. He was probably the only person in all of Tokyo that wasn't enjoying the day. How could he? He couldn't stand his life. He was so pinned down, so obligated. He had to do everything right, one mistake could destroy the world as he knew it. But the worst thing of all was Usagi. He was chained to her because of his past, because of their future. Sure Usagi was beautiful, and kind, but she was so clingy and immature. All she did was whine and complain. Of all the senshi she should be the most dedicated, but she was the exact opposite. She complained about all the responsibility that should be the greatest thing that ever happened to her. How could he ever love someone so unlike him?

Even worse than Usagi herself, was the fact that she kept him from his true attraction, Ami Mizuno.

For as long as he could remember she had been beautiful and smart, friendly but shy. She had the same dreams as him, the same goals, but she was his fatal attraction. He could never let her know how he felt, it could endanger the future. Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity must marry whether they loved each other or not.

"Mamoru!" Luna interrupted his thoughts as she ran through his door panting.

"What's wrong?" Mamoru asked the black cat with the crescent moon on its forehead.

"Usagi and the senshi are in trouble! There's a new enemy and they have them cornered, hurry!"

"Where!?" Mamoru demanded.

"At the base of Tokyo Tower," Luna responded quickly.

"I'm on my way," Mamoru ran out the door.

He sped past tall, dingy apartment buildings, fish markets, video arcades, shoe stores, grocery stores, open markets, schools, cars, and taxis lined the streets as people walked to and from shops. As he came up to the tall Tower he saw its red and white stripes flickering from the senshi and the new enemies fight.

Ten minutes later Mamoru was at the base of Tokyo Tower transformed. In front of him stood five grown women each overpowering one of the senshi. Chibi-usa stood behind them clutching the small bell given to her by Helios. Two tiny tears fell from her eyes. Her attempts to call him must have been unsuccessful.

The woman who stood in front of Sailor Venus, the leader of the Inner Senshi, wore a short yellow skirt with white ribbons hanging down and a skin tight white shirt that only came down to the middle of her ribcage. She had long blond hair much like Venus' own with bright yellow eyes that glowed like a jack o lantern. She held a long white whip in her hand.

Mamoru watched as Venus' Love and Beauty Shock was turned against her lashing her again and again as Sailor Venus struggled to stay on her feet. Her yellowish orange Sailor outfit was torn and tattered, almost destroyed and through her white gloves you could see trickles of blood oozing onto the fabric from the whip's harsh lashings.

Sailor Jupiter battled a similar assailant only she was taller with short brown hair and bright green eyes. She wore a short green velvet skirt with black ribbons and a black top that touched the top of the skirt. She bore a sword with an emerald dragon for a hilt as she reflected Sailor Jupiter's Oak Evolution and sent it spiraling back toward her. It hit her and sent her flying into the solid steel of Tokyo Tower breaking her arm and knocking her out.

"Jupiter!" Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury shouted simultaneously.

"Well, my work is done," Sailor Jupiter's attacker laughed disappearing.

"Nightdragon!" Sailor Mars' attacker turned and shouted after her.

"Mars Flame Sniper!" Mars shouted releasing her fiery arrow.

It hit her attacker across the arm pulling away skin and causing a bloody burn.

"Witch!" the woman shouted at Mars. She had long dark black hair with bright red streaks through it. She had flaming red eyes, and wore a medium length blood red skirt with the same color spaghetti strap top, long red ribbons fell from the skirt. She clutched a boomerang in the form of atwisted ruby snake.

She threw the boomerang at Mars. It hit her shoulder and cut into her.

"Mars," she began again.

Venus' attacker threw Venus across the ground and she hit the concrete hard. The impact tore off the back of her sailor outfit, and you could barely see her back it was so cut up and bloody. She was too bruised and bloody to move, and was barely breathing.

"You three better hurry up," her attacker laughed disappearing.

"Sunlash!" Sailor Moon's assailant shouted angrily, "Get back here!"

"Sailor Venus!" Sailor Mercury and Sailor Moon shouted.

"Tuxedo Mask help the others or help us, but don't just stand there," Mars growled, glaring at him through a wince of pain.

He nodded and ran over to check Jupiter and Venus' vitals. They were in bad shape and needed help as soon as they could get it, they were dying slowly. Venus from loss of blood, Jupiter seemed to have internal bleeding that could kill her quickly depending upon how bad it was.

Sailor Mars' aggressor used the opportunity to attack again, this time she hit her in the jaw throwing her to the ground and crushing her jaw. She screamed in pain as she hit the ground. The fall caused her to break her leg and she winced sitting up, trying to nurse her wounded leg.

"I'll finish you off for good," her attacker laughed throwing her boomerang.

"No!" Sailor Mercury shouted throwing herself in front of the boomerang. It hit her side and sent her to the ground eyes shut.

Mamoru winced and shook his head.

"Thanks so much Firesnake," Mercury's attacker laughed disappearing. The glimpse Mamoru got of her she had long light blue hair, with dark blue eyes and was wearing a short white skirt with light blue short sleeved shirt and long blue ribbons hung from her skirt. Her weapon was a small blue flute.

"Stupid Seaharmony," Firesnake muttered under her breath, "Always getting credit for my work."

"Mars, flame, sniper!" Sailor Mars wanted vengeance for her fellow scout, but she was too weak to stand. 

"No!" Firesnake threw her boomerang and redirected Mars' arrow toward her. It hit her in her hip and sent the rest of her to the ground. She struggled to stand on her good leg, but fell back. Her leg was crippled and burned, luckily she had good resistance to her own fire, and it wasn't completely destroyed.

"Have fun Blackpearl," Firesnake laughed, jumping up and disappearing.

"You're leaving me here?" Blackpearl asked softly, "Against her?" 

When she got no response she grew angry and turned on Sailor Moon, "You made all my friends leave me!" she had blond hair that was swirled into a bun in the middle of her head. Her brown eyes were filled with hate. She wore a short black skirt and a white strapless top. Pink ribbons flowed down to her ankles. In her hand she clutched a tiny box. It was lined with dark opals and a black pearl made the handle of it. She opened it and pulled out a long wand. Its top was lined with black pearls. The body of the wand was white as was the handle. Its bottoms were lined with the same black pearls, but towards the middle of the wand where the handle met the body was a big dark opal. A small white symbol showed from the center of the opal. It looked like a swirl, §. 

Mamoru's mind flashed back to the other's weapons, both the dragon on the hilt of the sword, and the boomerang's snake had that same symbol twisted as the tongue of the animal. The whip had had it as a twisted handle, and the small flute had it twined around the base of the instrument. This was a completely new enemy they were facing. 

Sailor Moon pulled off her tiara, "Moon Frisbee!" she shouted throwing the tiara at her attacker. It spiraled toward her head, right on target.

"At least she got this one right," Mamoru muttered.

Sailor Mars laughed weakly, "It was a good one to get right."

Mamoru looked down at her, he was surprised she was still conscious. 

"Dark Opal Beam!" Blackpearl shouted pointing the wand towards the tiara. A black beam shot out of the tip of the wand and knocked the tiara to the ground, once more it was only an ornament. 

"What?!" Sailor Moon demanded horrified.

"Dark opals are made to hold and collect magic," Blackpearl laughed cruelly, "Dark Opal," she began again.

Mamoru threw a red rose down at the wand, it sent it to the ground.

"How dare you!?" Blackpearl screamed in a rage, "I'll get you for this! But two against one is no fair!" she shouted jumping up and disappearing.

"You saved me again! I was almost burnt toast!" Sailor Moon shouted happily running to embrace Mamoru.

"Not now!" he shouted aggravated with her constant childish selfishness, "We've got to get them to a hospital, right away."

Sailor Moon pulled back and pouted, "Right, of course."

"The question is, how do we explain it?" Mamoru had no clue how to get them in.

"We could tell them the truth," Sailor Moon suggested.

"Yeah I'm going to call an ambulance and tell them that four of the Inner Senshi are badly wounded and need medical attention right away, and they're going to say, 'I'll be right over?'" Mamoru questioned viciously, she was so juvenile. 

"It was just a suggestion," Sailor Moon said quietly.

"I'm sorry, but look they're going to die if we don't find a way to get them the attention they need right away," Mamoru would go crazy if she started to cry, "Where's Sailor Chibi Moon?" he needed to speak to a sane person right now.

"I'm not sure," Sailor Moon looked around for her.

"Oh no, she disappeared again?" Mamoru demanded, just what he needed.

"Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Moon, hurry bring the senshi, Diana and I found a back entrance to the hospital. If we left them there someone would surely bring them in. Ami's mother would treat them, but they have to be detransformed. 

So one at a time Mamoru carried the senshi to the hospital and they detransformed on the way. When finally he held Ami in his arms he quivered, why did this feel so right? Sailor Moon saw him hesitate and looked at him curiously. He noticed her stare and began to move. Just as he put her down at the door, a nurse came over and saw them,

"What?" she asked astounded. She saw Tuxedo Mask's flashing cape as he ran through the back alley and out toward home, he needed to think. He would speak to Usagi later.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"Ami?!" Ami's mother asked horrified as they brought her daughter and her closest friends in battered.

"It's okay Dr. Mizuno, they'll be fine, they just need treated, Ami is in the worst shape though, it looks as if she has a ruptured appendix and a bruised kidney, something must have hit her hard in the side. She's also broken a shoulder blade, as if she hit something hard. There was some internal bleeding in her and her friend Makoto, but the doctors treated them. Minako had to get 100 stitches to close up the gashes in her back, and Rei had to be put in a leg and jaw cast. There is no permanent damage though, and they'll be fine soon enough," the nurse who was treating them explained.

"Are they up?" Dr. Mizuno asked tears in her eyes. What happened to you my daughter?

"Yes, they're up, they insisted on being put in the same room together, but they wanted privacy for awhile. I'm sure they wouldn't mind you visiting though."

"That's okay, I'll go see them in awhile, I'm sure they have a lot to talk about," Dr. Mizuno respected their privacy.

"Of course, I have to give them some medicine in about half an hour so you could go with me," the nurse suggested.

"That would be fine," Dr. Mizuno smiled weakly.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"The enemy will be back," Ami assured the other senshi.

"But how can we fight like this?" Rei questioned looking disgustedly at her leg that lay in a cast.

"We can't," Ami replied.

"Come on guys we've got to have some spirit, Sailor Moon will find a way to help," Minako tried to cheer them up. Her back throbbed. 

Rei groaned, "We better not rely on her."

Minako was about to go into one of her arguments that Sailor Moon was a capable savior when Makoto interrupted, "Sailor Moon alone cannot fight those five, they're almost indestructible."

Ami nodded, "And they're not monsters, they're just like us," she told them.

"What?!" Makoto, Minako, and Rei shouted simultaneously.

"When we were battling I was able to collect enough data from them to determine that they are human, or at least as human as we are. Don't you remember when Mars got the woman Firesnake in the arm? It was bloody and bruised, just like ours would have been had the attack hit us," Ami explained her findings.

"This can't be, they couldn't just show up like this," Makoto tried to deny it.

"Why? We did," Rei reminded her.

"No way! You're telling me they're reincarnations of our old enemies?" Minako added up the facts.

Ami nodded, "It's possible, but it's also possible that they're reincarnations of old allies."

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Mamoru sat in his apartment and stared out the window thinking, he spent a lot of him time like this anymore. He looked toward the setting sun and up at the rising moon, "If only, if only I wasn't obligated to that moon, I could be free."

"Prince," Helios appeared in his room.

He looked up startled, and saw a bowing Helios. He nodded and Helios stood.

"The small maiden called for me today. I tried to reach her but the gate from Elysion to this world was blocked, I couldn't get through. When I tried it again just now I was able to come here just fine, I'm worried, something is terribly wrong," Helios looked extremely distressed.

"What?!" Mamoru shouted outraged, "How can this be?!"

"I don't understand it myself Prince, but something is interfering with the gate to this world and Elysion."

"The new enemy? Could it be? Are they that powerful?" Mamoru questioned himself.

"New enemy?" Helios' face grew more worried at every word.

"Five woman appeared today, they looked almost exactly like the senshi, but they were more powerful than them. They took all but Sailor Moon down, and I was only able to delay that, they'll be back to take out all the senshi, for good," Mamoru was worried.

"The Dark Senshi, I didn't think that, no this can't happen," Helios looked down eyes wide.


	2. A Familiar Enemy

Chapter 2: An Enemy that is You

Chapter 2: An Enemy that is You

_ _

Ami sighed as her mother came in the room, "Ami are you okay? Rei, Makoto, Minako, are you girls okay?" 

"We'd be better if we weren't chained down," Rei muttered.

Dr. Mizuno smiled, "I take that as a yes."

"Mom who brought us here?" Ami asked.

"We're not sure, but the nurse who found you swears she saw a tall man in a cape and top hat running away from the door, and when she found you there were rose petals lying as a bed for you to lay softly on. Whoever it was I owe them a lot."

The others exchanged satisfied glances, of course, who else would it have been?

"It's not important though, what is important is finding out what happened to you four and finding and catching whoever did it," Dr. Mizuno grew angry.

They all shifted uncomfortably.

Ami looked up sweetly, "I don't remember what happened."

The others caught on and played along shaking their heads looking at one another for answers.

"What?" Dr. Mizuno asked curiously, "Not at all?"

They all shook their heads, "I wish I did, but I can't remember a thing, the last thing I remember is leaving the house to go get an ice cream with Chibi-usa," Ami lied. 

"You must have blocked out all the bad memories, I suppose it's better that way, I don't want to dig them back up. It could hurt your health," Dr. Mizuno looked disappointed, she wanted justice for her daughter and her friends.

Don't worry mom, we'll get them, I'll get them for you, Ami promised her mother silently.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"Dark Senshi? Helios do you know something about the enemy?" Mamoru asked.

Helios nodded, "A long time ago in the Silver Millenium," Helios began.

Mamoru sighed silently, every time he heard the words Silver and Millenium in the same sentence he cringed. Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion would be wed whether he wanted it or not. Again he looked up at the moon, he wished he could destroy it, destroy the future. Why couldn't he live his own life? 

"When the senshi were not needed and everyone was happy, the senshi themselves were not. They were unneeded, but yet Princess Serenity insisted on them staying in the palace with her at all times. She wouldn't let them lead their own lives, wouldn't let them be themselves. They began to get hateful towards their Princess and they created replacements of themselves so they could leave, Princess Serenity would never know. But something went wrong, the clones became their own people, they consumed the hate in the senshi's heart and grew on it. They evolved so much so that they were their own people, they no longer looked like the senshi or were anything like them. They were their own, an evil senshi. They soon created their own weapons and they each took on names, Sailor Mercury's clone was known as Seaharmony, Sailor Mars' was known as Firesnake, Sailor Jupiters' was Nightdragon, and Sailor Venus' Sunlash," Helios explained.

"That still doesn't explain Sailor Moon's clone," Mamoru told him, trying to find anyway out of this horrible truth, the senshi weren't like that, they couldn't. Though it did sound amazingly like something Usagi would do, she kept him prisoner. 

"Princess Serenity made a clone of herself to free herself from the senshi that she held prisoner, they followed her everywhere and when she wanted to be alone it was nearly impossible, her clone grew too, and eventually it found the other's in the Dark Senshi, and they gave her a name and the most powerful weapon of all. Sailor Moon's clone was given the name Blackpearl, and the weapon she carries with her is known as the Dark Opal Wand. It has sucked up so much magic and power in the past years that it can equal and possibly overpower the strength of the Silver Imperium Crystal. 

With the combined strength of all the senshi and Princess Serenity they were able to bottle up the Dark Senshi in a small box, the Dark Box. They hid it on earth, somewhere no one would ever open it, but apparently someone has," Helios finished his story.

"These Dark Senshi, is there a way to defeat them?" Mamoru asked growing afraid for the senshi and for himself.

Helios nodded solemnly, "There are three ways to defeat them."

"How?" Mamoru asked cautiously he didn't like the look on Helios' face.

"The senshi must destroy themselves and the clones will be destroyed with them. You could try and overpower them, but that would be hard and dangerous. They have spent a long time in solitude their power growing more and more each day. It might not even be possible anymore. The last thing you could do would be to revive the Ocean's Rose."

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Dr. Mizuno insisted on giving each girl their own room. They needed rest now, not talk and Ami lay in her bed wide awake. Her side felt like there were a thousand knives jabbing in it again and again and again, and her shoulder was no better. Suddenly she felt a current flow through her and Setsuna's presence surrounded her. "Setsuna?" she whispered quietly.

Sailor Pluto appeared in front of her, "In your past you and the other Inner Senshi made a horrible mistake and now it's come back to haunt you. Ami there is so much more about your past that you don't know, but will soon learn. For now you must be healthy to fight so I want you to take this," Pluto waved her time key anda small sapphire with the symbol of Mercury engraved on it appeared in midair, "It can only gain enough strength to heal you once a day so be careful, and good luck," Sailor Pluto wished her well as she disappeared.

The stone landed on her bed and carefully she picked it up. As soon as the stone touched her fingers water surrounded her and she came out fully transformed and healed. Her outfit was no longer torn or dingy and the small stone was placed properly in her tiara. She smiled and whispered a quick thank you to Sailor Pluto. Quickly she wrote her mother a note:

_ _

_ _

_ _

_ _

_ _

_Mom~_

_I know this may sound strange, but I'm completely healed. I'm going to be gone a few days, please don't worry. I'll be able to explain soon I hope._

_I love you and will see you soon_

Ami 

She left the note on the bed and jumped from her window, she had to find Usagi.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"Stupid cast," Rei reached down to itch her cast, when two crows flew through the window, "Phobos? Deimos?" she asked happily.

They landed on her bed and dropped a small ruby with her symbol engraved into it on her lap. It was attached to a note in Ami's handwriting:

This is a healing stone. Touch it and it will heal you, but it only works once a day so be careful, meet me at Usagi's as soon as you can.

Mercury 

Rei didn't waste any time, she picked up the stone and fire engulfed her. She came out healed and transformed her new jewel firmly placed in her tiara.

"Thank you, Phobos, Deimos, thank you," she told them as she jumped out the window. She ran through the streets headed for Usagi's. The two crows squawked their good byes and good lucks.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"If the senshi die, the Dark Senshi die, so wouldn't it be if the Dark Senshi kill the true senshi they will be killed as well?" Mamoru asked Helios.

"Only if they kill themselves will the others be killed as well," Helios explained.

"That leaves only one plausible choice. So what is the Ocean's Rose and how can we revive it?" Mamoru questioned.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Makoto slept silently when Sailor Neptune gently shook her awake. When she saw who had awoken her and looked to her other side and saw Sailor Uranus her eyes grew wide, "How?" she questioned.

"We don't have time to explain all we can do is give you this," Uranus held out her hand and inside lay a small emerald with Jupiter's sign cut into it. 

"It is a healing stone, it only works once every twenty four hours though, so be extremely careful. Your new enemy is you, only more powerful," Neptune spoke quickly.

"Your past in the Silver Millenium will come back to destroy you, and the rest of the Inner Senshi, you must revive the Ocean's Rose," Sailor Uranus told her as they faded away.

"What's the Ocean's Rose?" Makoto demanded as they disappeared. 

When they didn't answer she grabbed the stone, immediately she was in a giant ball of thunder, when it let her out she was healed and in her outfit, ready for battle. She looked in the mirror, her new stone was placed in her tiara. 

She jumped out the window, she would find the other senshi somewhere around Usagi's she guessed. When she hit the ground Luna came from under the bushes, "Jupiter! You too! Wonderful, they all were going to Usagi's," Luna told her. Jupiter nodded and ran toward Usagi's house.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Minako tossed and turned trying to get to sleep, something was going on, and she couldn't get up to see what it was.

"Minako, I have something for you, something important," Artemis jumped onto her bed.

"Artemis," Minako smiled.

"I was sent to give you this," Artemis lay a small yellow sapphire with her symbol scratched into it. "It is a healing stone, it will provide you with enough power to heal all your injuries once every twenty-four hours, but _only_ once."

"Do you know about the new enemy?" Minako inquired.

Artemis nodded solemnly, "They are the Dark Senshi, Seaharmony, Firesnake, Nightdragon, Sunlash, and Blackpearl, they are you, your clones. You made a horrible mistake in the Silver Millennium and created them, now you must destroy them. Revive the Ocean's Rose," Artemis told her before he jumped out the window.

"How?!" Minako demanded, but it was too late. She grabbed the stone and a wave of love hit her giving her its strength. When it let go she was healed and transformed.

She gently touched her tiara, her new stone was still warm.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Something lead Sailor Mercury to Mamoru's apartment, maybe her sense for Usagi was leading her there, it was very possible. She went up and knocked on his door. 

Slowly Mamoru got up to answer it, when he opened it his heart stopped, Mercury.

"Mamoru, is Usagi here?" she asked quickly.

Mamoru shook his head, "How, did you get better?" he inquired astounded.

"Sailor Pluto gave me a healing stone, and told me some about the enemy, but I don't know enough, I was wondering if Usagi knew anything we don't."

"I doubt she does, but I do, come in," Mamoru opened the door so she could get in.

"Thank you," she bowed quickly and walked in.

"Sailor Mercury," Helios bowed.

"Helios," she bowed back.

"Tell us what you've learned and we'll fill in the gaps," Mamoru instructed her.

"Today, when we fought I gathered some data about the new enemy, they're human, or at least as human as we are. And then when Pluto gave me my stone, she said that the new enemy was a mistake of our past, but there was more about my past that she didn't have time to explain," Sailor Mercury told them what she knew.

"A mistake, yes, human yes, but more than that," Helios told her.

"Helios you know about them?" Mercury asked.

Helios nodded, "It all started in the Silver Millennium," he began.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Sailor Mars jumped up onto Usagi's balcony and tapped gently on her glass door. 

When no one answered she muttered, "I should have known better," and jumped onto the roof and knocked on Chibi-usa's window. 

Chibi-usa woke up right away and opened the window for her, "Sailor Mars, how did you get better?" 

"All the senshi are better, we all received healing stones," Mars pointed to the stone in her tiara.

"Wow, I suppose you're here for Usagi right?" Chibi-usa asked looking glum.

She nodded, "Why so down?" she asked.

"Helios didn't come today, he hasn't come to see me since, and I'm worried. Maybe he's mad at me," Chibi-usa looked to her crystal ball Helios had given her.

"I doubt that," Mars told her.

Just as Chibi-usa looked away, Helios appeared in the ball, "Small maiden," he said softly seeing her, "Good, Sailor Mars, where are the other senshi?"

"Helios!" Chibi-usa squeaked happily.

"They're on their way," Mars told him.

"Tell them to meet Mamoru and I at his apartment, we need to speak to you. And small maiden, I am truly sorry I did not come today," Helios apologized.

"It's okay as long as you're not mad," Chibi-usa told him as Sailor Mars called all the senshi and told them what Helios had told her.

"I could never get mad at you," he told her and was gone.

Chibi-usa smiled, dazed.

"Ready to go wake up the rock?" Mars asked Chibi-usa smiling.

Chibi-usa nodded laughing.

They walked downstairs and into Usagi's room. 

Mars tapped her on the shoulder, but she didn't move.

"Watch and learn," Chibi-usa said smiling wickedly. She jumped onto the bed and then jumped onto Usagi.

Usagi screamed sitting up, "Why you," she began.

"No time for that, we've got to get to Mamoru's the rest of the senshi are going to meet us there," Mars began, "Hurry and transform."

"How?" Usagi began, looking at Sailor Mars startled.

She glared back at her and Usagi and Chibi-usa held up their hands, "Moon Cosmic Power Makeup!" they shouted transforming. When they were fully transformed they all ran outside jumping from Usagi's balcony and running toward Mamoru's.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"They're on their way," Helios told Mamoru and Sailor Mercury.

"Good," Sailor Mercury shook her head, "But I still can't believe we'd want to abandon the Princess like that."

"You felt you weren't needed," Helios told her.

"Princess Serenity always needs us, whether she's in danger or not, we were so foolish."

Mamoru sighed, if the senshi were on their way that meant Sailor Moon was too.

"Mamoru? What's wrong?" Sailor Mercury felt his distress, and had the overwhelming urge to try and help.

"Nothing," he lied, "You senshi are just too hard on yourselves. Look at what Princess Serenity did, she held you captive, and then made another clone to get away from you," it was so luck Usagi, selfish. He told himself not to be hard on himself, but somehow he couldn't get over the growing hate he had for her.

"You shouldn't speak of her in that tone," Mercury told him.

"What's wrong Prince?" Helios asked worried, "Lately you've been so distressed."

"It's nothing, don't worry about it, it won't affect me forever," Mamoru assured them. I hope, he told his mind looking at Sailor Mercury.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

In the future, King Endymion was worried, he knew what he was facing in the past, though he had never faced it. If they were to bring back the Ocean's Rose, Crystal Tokyo might never be the same.

"I have to prevent this, for Chibi-usa. I can't let them revive her, ever," he told himself.


	3. Prevention

Chapter 3: Prevention

Chapter 3: Prevention

Sailor Jupiter was the fist of the senshi to arrive, she knocked on Mamoru's door and he immediately let her in, she bowed and walked inside.

"Mercury? How did you get here so fast?" Jupiter questioned surprised.

"I came here first, I thought Usagi might be here, I guess I was wrong though," she explained.

"I guess. Hello Helios," Jupiter bowed and Helios bowed back.

"Hello Jupiter," he responded.

"I don't want to intrude, but _why_ didn't you come when Chibi Moon called today?" Jupiter demanded.

"I couldn't, the gate from this world to Elysion was blocked, but that is part of what I must tell you."

"What?" she asked staring, "But that's impossible."

"So we thought, but wait for the others, before I explain, that way I only have to do it once," Helios instructed.

Jupiter nodded dumbfounded as there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Sailor Mercury volunteered and opened the door, it was Sailor Venus. She bowed and walked in, she bowed to Mamoru, Jupiter, and Helios as she greeted them. 

"Artemis knows something, and if he does Luna does," Venus told them right away.

"Nothing more than I know," Helios told her.

"Why didn't you come today! We were almost killed! Chibi Moon called for you again and again and again! Don't you care?!" Venus shouted outraged.

"Sailor Venus calm down! He had a good reason that he's going to explain when everyone gets here, now we're only waiting for Sailor Mars, Sailor Moon, and Sailor Chibi-Moon," Jupiter counted the absences. 

There was another knock at the door, and Mercury went to answer it, "I wonder who this might be," she laughed opening it. When she opened it she was shocked, "Your, Your, Majesty," she stood to the side bowing to let him in. 

He glared at her and Mamoru watched amazed, something was wrong with that. 

"Your Majesty," Venus and Jupiter bowed dumbfounded, what was he doing here?

"How can we help you Your Majesty?" Mercury ended the silence.

"By leaving, this is a futile fight and I don't want my daughter, or my future Queen and self endangered in it," he glared.

"What?" Venus demanded, "I'm sorry Your Majesty, but I think you've lost it. How can we possibly do that? They'd take over all of Tokyo, they would destroy Crystal Tokyo, how safe is that for you then?" 

"Well spoken Sailor Venus, but incorrect, all they want is the Ocean's Rose and I want you to give it to them, you have it you just don't know you do," the King told them. 

"Why would we give them the one thing that could destroy them?" Helios asked bowing, "I hate to go against you King, but I won't let the senshi do that."

"Helios, do you understand what bringing back the Ocean's Rose would do? You can't let them revive her," the King looked directly at him.

"I know only that it would change Crystal Tokyo, for the better not the worse, and you know it. It is the small maiden that keeps you from the happiness you deserve though," Helios looked down, "It would destroy her."

"Yes Helios, it would kill her, she would die, fade out of existence. You don't want that do you, you love her don't you Helios?" the King demanded of him as Sailor Mars, Sailor Moon, and Sailor Chibi Moon walked in. Helios' head shot up as he caught Chibi Moon's eyes. She looked at him worried, she didn't like the look in his eyes, something was wrong, "Daddy?" she asked quietly seeing the King.

Helios looked away, this killed him.

"Chibi Moon," the King smiled at his daughter.

"What, are you doing here?" Chibi Moon inquired not looking at her father but instead looking at Helios' pained face, "Helios?"

How could Helios trade his happiness and Chibi Moon's life, for the King's happiness and the Ocean's Rose life?

"I just came to settle some business with the Inner Senshi, and now that they're all here I can finally do it," he unsheathed his sword and walked toward Sailor Mercury.

The Inner Senshi watched in horror as he approached her. 

"What are you doing?!" Mamoru demanded as Helios looked away.

"Daddy! Stop! Leave her alone!" Chibi Moon shouted horrified closing her eyes.

"Your Majesty, I don't know what I've done to upset you, but I truly am sorry, please," Sailor Mercury begged trying not to panic.

"Sailor Mercury, Ami, I want you to die knowing that I'm sorry for what I must do, but it must be done, for Chibi Moon," the King raised his sword, and Sailor Mercury closed her eyes. 

"Venus love me chain!" Sailor Venus shouted encircling the sword and ripping it away from the King, "I'm sorry Your Majesty, but I will _not _permit you endangering the life of one of my team, or one of my dearest friends."

"You're a damn fool Venus!" the King shouted.

Sailor Mercury opened her eyes and they began to tear, what had she done wrong? She looked to Mamoru eyes pleading with him to answer her unspoken questions. 

He turned away and Mercury shook her head.

"What were you thinking?!" Sailor Mars demanded staring at him horrified.

"I was thinking for the lives of my family, and the safety of my kingdom, to ensure that safety I must destroy Sailor Mercury, here and now," he bent to pick up the sword.

"Space Sword Blaster!" Sailor Uranus shouted as she ran her sword through his, and it was destroyed.

Everyone looked amazed as they saw the four Outer Senshi gather in the apartment.

"You of all people, the leader of the Outer Senshi, Uranus, you should know what bringing back the Ocean's Rose means," the King looked disappointedly at her.

"Giving you back your happiness? Saving the Inner Senshi? Yes I do," Sailor Uranus responded.

"Sailor Saturn, Chibi Moon is one of your only friends, do you want to see her killed?" the King turned to the fragile and melancholy Sailor Saturn.

Sailor Saturn let a tear fall down her face, "Of course not."

"Then you'll help me right?" the King asked anxiously.

Sailor Saturn shook her head, "I can't."

Chibi Moon stood horrified at this conversation, "Saturn? What is this about? Helios?" she questioned everyone looking for answers.

"If you think I would ever Chibi Moon, Your Majesty you are horribly wrong. She is one of my closest friend, as well as a fellow senshi, I could never," Mercury assured him.

"Yes you could, and will if I don't destroy you here and now," the King pulled out a black rose from under his cape, "I'm sorry Sailor Mercury, please forgive me."

"Dead, Scream!" Sailor Pluto shouted as she lifted her key and destroyed the rose.

"You're her mentor are you not Pluto?" the King turned to her.

"Yes I am," Pluto responded eyeing him to make sure that he wasn't going to turn around and go back for Mercury again.

"But who's more important to you? Sailor Saturn, who is like a daughter to you? Or Sailor Mercury who is your student?" the King held up a black rose and threw it toward Sailor Saturn, "No!" the other three Outer Senshi screamed.

"Silence Wall!" Hotaru shielded herself with an invisible wall, when the rose hit it shattered, hit the floor, and disappeared.

"You're stronger than I suspected and quicker," he commented Sailor Saturn, "Then I'll do it this way!" he turned and threw a rose toward Haruka.

"Submarine Reflection!" Sailor Neptune obliterated the rose with her mirror.

"So I see the Outer Senshi are untouchable, hmmm what to do what to do, I know!" he threw a rose toward Sailor Venus.

"Shabon Spray Freezing!" Mercury froze the rose so it stopped dead in its tracks and fell to the ground breaking into chips of ice.

"What is wrong with you!? You're trying to destroy your protectors!" Michiru told him outraged.

"The protectors who want to kill my daughter? Not very good ones if you ask me," the King threw four roses at all the Inner Senshi. 

Artemis jumped in front of Sailor Venus', Luna in front of Mercury's, Phobos took Mars' and Deimos, Jupiter's. When the rose hit them each animal fell to the ground cut and bleeding by the thorny rose.

"Luna!" Mercury shouted picking up the black cat.

"Artemis," Venus sobbed into the fur of her white cat guardian.

"Phobos! Deimos!" Rei shouted outraged as she picked up the limp birds.

"You'll pay for this," Jupiter growled, "Supreme Thunder Dragon!" a huge dragon in the form of thunder leaped out of Jupiter's arms and headed toward the King. 

"No!" Chibi Moon shouted jumping in the way.

"Chibi Moon!" Helios and Jupiter shouted. Helios transformed into Pegasus and shot a white beam of light out of his horn, obliterating the thunder.

Chibi Moon slowly opened her eyes, and seeing the danger was gone turned around, "What is wrong with you!? How am I going to be destroyed? And why would Sailor Mercury of all people kill me?!" Chibi Moon demanded holding her hands on her hips.

"It doesn't matter, because it won't happen, I'm going to take care of that," the King whipped around and grabbed Sailor Mercury by the waste, "Now you will die," he told her pulling out another black rose and positioning it toward her heart. 

Mercury closed her eyes and braced herself, "I'm truly sorry Your Majesty, please let my dying wish be that you forgive me," she said quietly.

That killed him, how could he do this? 

"Sailor Moon! Do something!" Sailor Mars shouted trying to position her fire arrow so that she wouldn't hit Sailor Mercury too.

"Venus, love me chain!" Venus shot her chain toward the rose.

"No!" the King shouted throwing another rose at her chain and breaking it. He put his hand back around Sailor Mercury's waste. 

Mamoru threw a red rose at the King's hand causing him to drop his rose, and freeing Sailor Mercury from his grasps, she went to the other senshi thanking them with her life.

King Endymion shook his head, "They are your future wife and daughter, you endanger them now?" 

"I don't know what this Ocean's Rose is, and I don't know why you want Sailor Mercury, but I won't let you harm any of the senshi," Mamoru told him.

"You know as well as I do that if it were Jupiter or Venus or Mars, if it were Sailor Moon herself in this position, you would jump to help me kill them if only you were to save the life of Chibi Moon," the King whispered to Mamoru who stepped back horrified. Could that be true?

"I want to speak to the Outer Senshi, alone," the King requested.

The four Outer Senshi exchanged glances then they nodded in agreement.

"Is that safe?" Sailor Venus asked Sailor Uranus.

"Of course not, but we don't have a choice," she responded walking out onto the balcony with King Endymion followed by the rest of the Outer Senshi.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

The Inner Senshi all huddled around Sailor Mercury as she whispered thank you to them all.

Mamoru looked up at the night sky, far in the distance he saw a small blue dot, "Mercury," he said softly.

Sailor Mercury broke away from the senshi and went over to Mamoru. She gently touched his shoulder. She pulled back, she had felt a strange connection and it scared her.

Mamoru turned around and noticed her

"I wanted to thank you, for saving me," she bowed to him.

"No need, it's my job to protect the Inner Senshi," Mamoru smiled.

"Thank you still, you fought yourself for me, and I am eternally grateful," she blushed slightly then turned and walked back to the Inner's.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"This is the Ocean's Rose," King Endymion reminded the Outer Senshi and Helios.

"Which is the fate of Tokyo, and your happiness," Helios reminded him. Now he understood what was wrong with Mamoru, the same thing that plagued the King, unhappiness. 

"Which means killing Chibi Moon," the King countered.

Helios and Sailor Saturn winced.

"Not bringing it back means killing all of the Inner Senshi," Sailor Uranus informed him.

"Do you think this isn't hard for me?!" King Endymion demanded of the Outer Senshi.

"We know that it's hard for you, but you need to weigh your possibilities. You must think of every life as an equal, you cannot be bias to one life or another," Neptune helped him organize his thoughts, "If you bring back the Ocean's Rose you will gain your happiness, but destroy Neo Queen Serenity's, that equals out.You will gain the lives of all four of the Inner Senshi, but loose Chibi Moon's.

"If you don't revive it, you will be unhappy, but Neo Queen Serenity will be. You will potentially destroy the four Inner Senshi and Princess Serenity, but Chibi Moon would be spared."

Helios looked away and into the moon, no longer would there be a small rabbit of the moon.

Sailor Saturn spoke up, "We could fight, with our combined powers, we could defeat them," she told them.

Sailor Pluto looked at her sadly, "You know any damage we inflict upon one clone would happen to the senshi. Only they can destroy each other."

"We could seal them back up, put them back into the Dark Box, and then destroy it," Helios turned to face them.

The Outer Senshi looked from one to the other.

"We can try," Uranus finally said.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Helios looked down from his spot on the grassy hill that overlooked the water. It was a beautiful night, he wished he could enjoy it.

"Helios?" Chibi Moon stood behind him. The white ribbons of her Sailor Outfit and her cotton candy pink hair moved gently in the light breeze. He smiled, he would always remember her like this.

"Come and sit small maiden. It is a beautiful view," he offered her gently.

She sat beside him in silence for awhile before she sighed lightly and asked, "What's going to happen to me?"

Helios' eyes shimmered when he looked at her.

Was it the moonlight or were those tears?

"I don't know," he told her softly.

"Helios I'm so scared," she wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder.

"So am I," Helios admitted holding her.

She looked up into his eyes, it wasn't the moonlight, those were tears.

He slowly bent down to kiss her.

Gently their lips touched and when they broke away Chibi Moon closed her eyes and lay her head on his chest.

He laid back and they fell asleep, safe in each others arms.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

The Outer Senshi explained their plans to the Inner Senshi and Mamoru. When they were finished they decided on sleep. They would stay here and sleep.

Mamoru pulled out extra blankets for everyone and they all settled down. Ami nervously watched from a corner of the living room as the King walked into Mamoru's room, "Where's Chibi Mon?" she asked looking for the missing senshi.

"Helios is missing too," Rei told them looking up from feeding the wounded animals.

"Someone should go find," Minako instructed no one in particular.

"I'll go," Ami volunteered, she wanted out of there.

"I'll go with her, in case the enemy shows up," Mamoru added himself.

Ami could have protested, but she was grateful for the company.

The two walked outside and walked in one direction hoping to find the two.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"Stupid Firesnake, sending me out here this late, just to pick off one of the stupid senshi, why I…" Seaharmony trailed off when she stumbled across Helios and Chibi Moon, "How cute, too bad I have to kill you, so sad, boo hoo," Seaharmony said sarcastically pulling out her flute. As she began to play beautiful music coud be heard from miles away as a quickly growing waterspout began to spin.


	4. A Battle Unlike Any Other

Chapter 4: A Battle Unlike Any Other 

Ami heard the music in the distance, and felt the water that she possessed shake in fear. She trembled and Mamoru looked at her worried, "They're over there, toward the park," Ami told him, "We have to hurry, the enemy is on them. 

"Mercury, Crystal Power Make up!" Ami shouted as she transformed. 

"Tuxedo Power!" 

When they were fully transformed they ran towards the music, Mercury running faster at every note.

When they arrived to the little grassy hill Chibi Moon stood in front of the enemy. Without Sailor Moon her wand was useless. Pegasus reared in fury and charged toward Seaharmony. She jumped into the air and did a flip right over him.

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" Mercury played her harp and a ribbon of water came rushing toward Seaharmony who had looked away to snicker at Pegasus' fatal attempts to spear her. The water knocked her to the ground, and Mamoru pinned her down with four roses that went straight through her arms and legs. She screamed in pain as blood dripped from the sides of the holes the roses had made.  

Mamoru pulled out a black rose from his cape, and aimed it at her heart, she looked around in panic. 

"No! Fire Fury!" Firesnake shouted throwing her boomerang at Mamoru, as it moved through the air it caught on fire, it broke the rose in half, just barely missing Mamoru. 

"Stupid Seaharmony, you had them, all you had to do was get rid of them. You're worthless," Firesnake scowled at her partner. 

"Firesnake I'm sorry just get me out of here please; they're going to kill me," Seaharmony begged, crying in pain and fear. 

"And I should let them, you're no use to us, you couldn't even pick off the little one," Firesnake glared hatefully, "So I'll finish the job you couldn't begin. Fire Fury!" she shouted throwing the boomerang at Chibi Moon. 

Pegasus threw himself at the boomerang. It ripped through his wings and he fell down turning back into Helios once more. His back was bloody and blistered as he lay on the ground helpless, bleeding heavily, and breathing hard.

"Helios!" Chibi Moon sobbed kneeling by his side, "HELIOS!" she shouted frantically as he closed his eyes.

"Small Maiden, it's so beautiful here, I promise I'll wait for you," Helios told her quietly as his breathing faded.

"HELIOS!" Chibi Moon screamed as tear after tear fell onto his golden horn, "No, please Helios, aishiteru, please," she begged him to stay with her. 

Sailor Mercury and Tuxedo Mask watched, their faces twisted with pain at the sight before them.

With her words and her tears, a small crystal formed, it was a diamond crescent moon, surrounded by a beautiful rose quartz heart.

She picked it up carefully from it's position just above Helios' head, and as she did Mercury came and knelt beside her, "It's a healing stone, it will heal you once a day, but only once, use it wisely," she explained the stone in Chibi Moon's hands as she  stared at it wide-eyed. As if just coming out of a daze she got a determined look in her eyes, and cupped the stone. She opened Helios' limp fingers, he only breathed once every minute or so now, it was almost over for him. She placed the stone in his hand, and curled his fingers around it, "Please work," she begged the stone, "Don't take him away from me," she held his hand tight as his body began to rise into the air. She stood up as he rose, and when he had gotten as far as she could reach she refused to let him go.

Tuxedo Mask walked over to her and held her shoulder firmly, "It's time to let him go," he told her gently.

"No! Helios!" Chibi Moon shouted as she began to loose her grip, "No!" she screamed tears streaming down her face. She was loosing him forever. As her tiny fingers slid from his hands she jumped up trying to grab him, trying to keep him on earth, where he belonged, with her. He was just out of her grasps. As he disappeared into the clouds she whispered his name over and over, tears streaming down her cheeks. She sat on the hill where just an hour ago Helios was alive and well, and they were together.

 When she had no more strength to cry she looked up hate in her eyes, "I'll kill you!" she shouted lunging toward Firesnake.

Firesnake not expecting a direct attack, didn't move when Chibi Moon threw her to the ground and grabbed for her neck. She wanted only vengeance for the loss of Helios, she didn't care if she died getting it, but she would have it.

Seaharmony ripped her arm free from the rose screaming as it ripped through her thorns breaking off inside her arm. Once she had one arm free she broke the other roses off as far as she could and ripped her legs and other arm up. She shouted in fury, "Damn you! Damn all you Senshi!" 

Meanwhile Firesnake was having a hard time getting Chibi Moon off her. She was bigger than her, but Chibi Moon had her rage and sadness to fuel her. 

Chibi Moon lunged for Firesnake's throat and gripped it in her tiny palms strangling her. Unwanted tears fell and blinded her though, and Firesnake was able to kick her off.

"Mercury Aqua Mirage!" Mercury shouted hitting Firesnake in the back and throwing her to the ground once more.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Hotaru looked around nervously, her pale skin looked whiter than normal, maybe it was accented by the night around them. 

"What's on your mind Hotaru?" Setsuna asked her.

"It's Chibi Moon, they're not back with her yet. I can sense something wrong," Hotaru responded looking anxiously towards the door.

"I agree, I felt it too," Rei sported a healthy Phobos and Deimos on each shoulder. Luna and Artemis lay asleep curled up in bandages.

Haruka and Minako exchanged glances and nodded to one another. 

"Venus Crystal Power Make Up!" 

"Uranus Planet Power Make Up!"

The two leaders of the senshi turned to the rest of them, "We'll be back, don't worry we'll call if we need help," Sailor Uranus assured them.

"Good luck," Michiru wished them well as they ran into the dark night streets of Tokyo.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"You miss him don't you?" Firesnake asked sarcastically sympathetic as she stood, stumbling from the blow Mercury had inflicted on her.

Chibi Moon rolled on the ground and sprung up, "I'll kill you! I swear I'll have revenge for Helios!" 

"But without your precious Helios you have no attack. You're nothing without someone supporting you," Firesnake laughed, "Just another pathetic Sailor Senshi wannabe."

"No! Love and Fury Attack!" Chibi Moon shouted opening her hands and letting a giant wave of razor sharp pink hearts fly towards Firesnake.

"Razor Snake!" Firesnake shouted letting her boomerang fly, Chibi Moon's hearts met, Firesnake's boomerang in mid-air and they battled back and forth no one winning no one loosing.

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" Mercury added her stream of water, and they overcame Firesnake easily. The impact threw her against a nearby tree and cracked her head, slowly she opened her eyes, "Help, Seaharmony, help," she begged. 

"Seaharmony's worthless, now let's see who the worthless one is," Sunlash appeared with bandages as she wrapped up Seaharmony's rose wounds.

"I think we'll let you decide what we should do with her, Seaharmony," Blackpearl turned Firesnake's fate over to her.

Seaharmony looked away and smiled viciously, "I think we should leave her here, and let them finish her off, but then again, the scores would be down four to five, no we have to bring her back, even if only to have an even fight," Seaharmony nodded.

"Arigato, arigato, arigato," Firesnake thanked Seaharmony who stood above her.

"Don't think this doesn't mean you'll go unpunished," Nightdragon informed Firesnake.

"World Shaking!" the effect of Uranus' earthquake caused Firesnake to be knocked into the tree her legs folding behind her and cracking. 

"Oh now look what you've done, gone and made our work harder," Sunlash laughed, "But I do believe your healing stones only work once a day do they not?" she laughed disappearing taking Firesnake with her, as the Dark Senshi followed suit.

"Oh, and don't worry about your boyfriend, you'll be joining him soon," Seaharmony laughed cruelly as she followed the others.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Back at Mamoru's apartment, Rei's legs folded underneath her, and she screamed in pain, as they snapped. 

Everyone turned their heads to see what happened, as Phobos and Deimos came tumbling off her shoulders as she hit the ground. 

"Rei!" Makoto shouted running to help her friend, "What happened?"

"My, legs," Rei breathed in pain, "They just snapped."

Michiru shook her head and walked over to Rei, "I apologize for Haruka's mistakes, for tonight, please lend me your fire, mixed with water they will be out of pain, until you can heal them tomorrow."

So Michiru took Rei into Mamoru's bathroom, and filled the tub with her water.

"What's the difference between your water and the water that comes out of the tap?" Makoto asked as she carried Rei delicately in.

"The element of a fellow senshi is healing," Sailor Neptune told her detransforming.

"Mars, Crystal Power, Make up," Rei whispered in pain. She transformed and had barely enough strength to whisper the words, "Fire, Soul, Bird," she said weakly as a flaming bird shot out of her fingers and dove into the water, the fire and water churned as Sailor Mars detransformed and fell asleep exhausted. Gently Makoto lowered her into the water, and made sure that her head would stay above it before she and Michiru walked out to leave Rei sleep.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"What did she mean by our healing stones only work once a day?" Sailor Mercury asked Sailor Uranus as they walked home, they detransformed on the way.

"What I do to one of your clones happens to you," Haruka explained.

"You mean?" Minako questioned.

Haruka nodded, "I made a very horrible mistake, but Michiru will help her, don't worry," Haruka assured them, "As for Chibi-usa I don't know about her," she looked behind her at the sobbing senshi. She never once looked up only whispered his name again and again, whispered apologies to him, told him she loved him, that she would never love anyone else like she loved him. Even Mamoru's presence could not comfort her. He was gone, he wouldn't ever come back, and it was her fault.

  



	5. An Awakening

Chapter 5: An Awakening

"Helios," Chibi-usa muttered in her sleep as tears streamed down her cheeks. Even now she couldn't escape the image of him slipping away from her. She woke up sweating. She stood and carefully walked over the sleeping senshi as she crept towards Mamoru's bathroom.

She turned on the light and filled the sink with water. She splashed water on her face and gently tried to wash away her tears to no avail. As hard as she tried to silence them they kept falling. She looked up in the mirror disgusted with herself. She saw Rei in the mirror scowling down at her legs, "Moon, Crisis," she began startled.

"Chibi-usa it's me!" Rei yelled, "Calm down."

Chibi-usa spun around, "Rei?" she asked, her voice was cracked and dry from crying.

"Who else?" Rei couldn't stand being pinned down.

"What, what are you doing here?" she wiped her tears trying to hide them.

"Uranus broke Firesnake's legs which broke mine. The water is good for me it takes away the pain until I can heal my wounds.

"But what's wrong with you little rabbit?" Rei inquired seeing her tears.

"Helios…" Chibi-usa tried to begin.

"Don't worry he won't stay mad at you," Rei smiled, she had no clue what this was about.

Chibi-usa shook her head and looked down, "That's not what's wrong. Helios, Helios, he's, he," she couldn't bring herself to say the word.

Rei looked at her worried by her expression.

"Firesnake killed him, he's dead. He was trying to protect me to save me, and…and," Chibi-usa sobbed sinking to her knees.

"Oh my god," Rei tried to move, but it pulled her legs. She winced in pain, but the water quickly doused it.

"She stole him from me, then those stupid tramps stole my revenge from me," Chibi-usa wanted to curl into a ball on that floor and die, and for a minute considered doing just that.

"Chibi-usa don't cry, Helios wouldn't want to see you unhappy," Rei wanted to console her, but she couldn't move.

"No," Chibi-usa sniffed, "You're right, but could I stay and talk?"

Rei smiled, "Of course little rabbit, I'm not going anywhere."

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§ 

"What?!" King Endymion roared.

"Chibi-usa tried to revive him, there was no stopping it," Haruka explained Helios' death to him.

"You two were there, tell me _exactly _what happened, from the beginning," he ordered Mamoru who stood in front of him, and Ami who stood in one corner afraid to come nearer. 

Ami shook her head, "Mamoru was there, he'll tell you," she told him running from the room.

Next thing they knew they heard a door shut and footsteps pounding down stairs.

Mamoru glared at King Endymion who ignored it and instructed Haruka and Michiru to go find Ami, "Oh, and Haruka?"

She turned waiting for him to speak.

"Try not to injure anymore of the senshi."

She scowled and walked out Michiru following her.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§ 

Ami didn't know where she was going, she was just getting out of there, away from him. What had she done wrong? What was so bad about her that King Endymion wanted to destroy her? Question upon question, piled up in her mind as she ran faster and farther away. She ran through center Tokyo, not noticing anything. It was early morning now, the sun was just beginning to rise, and people on their way to work saw her running and holding her hands to her ears as she did, trying to stop the questions, trying more to stop their answers. 

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Chibi-usa explained everything to Rei, it took her awhile, and many choke ups before she did, but she managed.

"It was good to get it out, do you feel better?" Rei asked Chibi-usa who sat next to the tub her fingers swirling the fire water. 

Chibi-usa shook her head, "How can I?" she questioned.

"But you've stopped crying," Rei told her to look on the bright side.

"Only because I've run out of tears," Chibi-usa could barely breathe the pain hurt so much.

"You need to sleep small rabbit, before the sun comes up, please try," Rei begged her to get some rest.

Chibi-usa nodded, she was tired, she crept back into the living room not even noticing three missing senshi. 

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"Now you've scared her, she'll never trust you, and she'll never trust me!" Mamoru shouted at King Endymion.

"Good, I don't care what Haruka and Michiru think, if worse comes to worse, I will not sacrifice Chibi-usa," King Endymion responded.

"What does that have to do with Ami?!" Mamoru demanded.

"Everything!" the King shouted.

"What?" Mamoru questioned.

"Ami is destined to be the only senshi able to revive the Ocean's Rose," he told him, "If she dies Chibi-usa will not." 

Mamoru looked at him dumbstruck, "Are you sure?"

"Everything changes now doesn't it?" 

Mamoru couldn't respond, he couldn't even begin to imagine what the King was going through now, how could anyone make a choice like that? And he was being forced to.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Chibi-usa's face twisted in pain as she slept, "No, come back," she whispered over and over, her voice barely audible.

Warm hands took hers, and gentle lips kissed her forehead. As he left something in her palm and whispered, "Sleep now small maiden, I'll see you in the sun."

Knowing subconsciously what was going on she stopped sweating and turning and fell into a deep dreamless sleep, a small smile showing in her lips.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Ami ran right into Seaharmony and fell to the ground, knocking the Dark Senshi down. She looked up and saw who it was, she calmed her expression and gave her the most regretful face she could, "I'm so sorry, can I help you up?" she offered Seaharmony her hand.

She took it spitefully and a connection flowed through them.

"Mercury," Seaharmony's grip grew tighter as she threw Ami to the ground.

"I really am sorry for knocking you over, it was my fault, I'll watch where I'm going next time," Ami tried not to give herself away.

"Save it! I know who you are Sailor Mercury," Seaharmony snickered.

Ami got up quickly and ran into a dark alley. Oh great Ami get yourself trapped like a rat, good move, she told herself harshly.

Seaharmony followed her and did a flip over her landing in front of her, "Running from me?" she asked viciously.

"I don't know who you are or what's going on, but leave me alone!" Ami shouted clenching her fists.

"Ha ha ha, good try Mercury," Seaharmony laughed.

Ami filled with rage, how could this happen? She remembered Helios, and saw the pain in Chibi-usa's face. She would destroy her, but first she had to get out of this alley, "Stop calling me that!" she shouted. With her anger and fear her symbol showed on her forehead, and let out a beam of blue light that knocked Seaharmony away long enough for Ami to run out of the alley and into an abandoned store. Even better, for all you know this store doesn't even have an exit! she shouted at herself. 

"Not Sailor Mercury huh?" Seaharmony demanded satisfied.

"Mercury Crystal Power Make Up!" Ami shouted raising her hand. 

Seaharmony laughed as she transformed, "Finally, someone to play with, okay senshi of water, come and get me, make the first move," Seaharmony challenged.

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" Mercury shouted releasing her string of water.

Seaharmony moved out of the way just in time.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!" Sailor Mercury shouted as Seaharmony watched the water go past her. Mercury's frozen wave hit Seaharmony and she was so cold she couldn't move.

"Mercury Aqua Mirage!" Mercury shouted hitting Seaharmony dead on, "Shabon Spray!" she created a fog and ran from the store. She didn't even turn to see what she had done to her opponent, just ran, but before she could go far she collapsed. She had used too much of her energy trying to defeat Seaharmony, too much of her strength.

Michiru and Haruka came upon the collapsed Ami. Haruka picked her up, and they began to walk back towards Mamoru's apartment.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

When Chibi-usa woke up she felt much better, must have been the sleep. She sat up and stretched, pulling her hands apart. When she did something fell out of one of her hands. It landed on her pillow, and she looked at it staring horrified. It was her healing stone, how?

"Helios!" she screamed at the top of her lungs waking everyone up.

"Chibi-usa!" Makoto growled aggravated.

She disregarded it and ran out onto Mamoru's balcony where Helios stood watching the morning sun.

She couldn't believe her eyes, and rubbed them hard, but yet he was there, wasn't he? "Helios?" she whispered.

He turned around and smiled warmly, "Small maiden."

Chibi-usa ran up to him and grabbed his neck holding on, "Helios," she whispered into his shoulder, "You came back, am I dreaming?" 

"No, you saved me, your healing stone, it just took longer to work because it wasn't mine," Helios explained.

"Don't ever do that again!" Chibi-usa let go and yelled at him.

He laughed, "Okay," he agreed.

"Good," Chibi-usa smiled happily; she couldn't believe this was happening.

"Helios?!" Hotaru squeaked walking out, "How?" she and the other senshi had been told of what happened by Mamoru and Minako.

"To make a long story short, Chibi-usa saved me her healing stone healed me," Helios explained quickly.

"I can't believe this! This is so great!" Hotaru shouted happy for her friend. She smiled, something she rarely did.

Chibi-usa beamed, and Helios smiled.

"Chibi-usa, Hotaru, Helios!?" Minako shook her head, "I'm sure you'll explain, but you're needed inside, Michiru and Haruka just brought Ami back."

Helios and Hotaru's faces grew grim, and it worried Chibi-usa. Something was going on here, and she didn't know what.

They slowly walked inside and sat down. 

Rei laid on the couch obviously in great pain.

Michiru brought her a glass of water, "Here drink this, it'll last for about an hour," she instructed.

Rei drank it hungrily, and it eased the pain almost immediately. She relaxed a bit, and everyone looked around curious.

"What is this about?" Makoto demanded grumpily. Chibi-usa had decided she wasn't a morning person.

"This is what it's about," King Endymion walked in, Ami laying limp in his arms.

"You bastard what did you do to her!?" Makoto shouted horrified.

"She's…she's…not…not…" Minako stuttered.

"Dead? No, and _I _didn't do anything to her Makoto, she did it to herself," the King set her down on the floor.

"What?!" Rei demanded worried for her friend.

"She was most likely fighting the enemy and passed out because she used too much energy. For being so smart she's pretty dumb," the King commented.

"I don't know what you have against her, but don't insult her," Makoto warned him.

"She of all the senshi should have known her limit, but she refused to follow it, and kept fighting, and see where she ended up?" the King glared at Makoto.

"She was most likely fighting for her life; she had no choice," Rei snapped.

"There are always choices Rei, it's which one is right that's the problem," King Endymion didn't even look at her, but instead looked at Mamoru. 

Hotaru crawled up to Ami and was about to heal her when the King stopped her, "Don't! It will be less painful if she's asleep," he told her.

Hotaru backed off.

"No!" Setsuna shouted.

"It's her or Chibi-usa!" Endymion shouted.

"Uranus took down Firesnake, if we pulled together, we could get them. We don't even know how bad Mercury got whoever she was fighting, that's at least one down, and there's still five of us as soon as Rei is healed," Minako spoke quickly.

"And what if they attack while Rei is still down? What then?" the King questioned.

"We'll wait and see, until then you won't lay a hand on her," Mamoru said viciously.

Usagi turned her head at his tone. He shook his head and walked out. 

  



	6. A Dream With Spies

Chapter 6: A Dream with Spies

In the future Neo Queen Serenity woke with a start. That dream, why did it keep haunting her? Duh Serenity! You made a horrible mistake, and it's coming back to haunt you, her mind informed her.

"No!" she shouted holding her ears, "What I did was for us!"

Okay sure keep telling yourself that, her mind replied.

"Why is this happening?!" she demanded out loud.

"Serenity?" Sailor Mars asked walking in, "Is it the dream again?"

Serenity nodded.

"Why won't you tell me what's it about, maybe I can help," Mars offered.

Serenity shook her head, nothing could help. Telling the truth would, her mind reminded her.

She felt like knocking her brain out of her body, why was her mind turning on her? 

Because even you know you did a horrible thing, it told her, I'm just here to make sure that you're reminded of it.

"Am I going crazy?" she asked out loud.

Mars looked at her concerned, "I don't think so, why?"

"My mind is talking to me," Serenity replied.

Mars almost laughed at her, instead she smiled and regained herself, "Serenity, that's just your mind responding to your thoughts, it happens to everyone." Mars couldn't help but insult her Queen in her mind, but then again you wouldn't know that considering you don't normally have complex thoughts. 

That was mean, Mars scolded herself, I shouldn't have said that.

Serenity sighed thankful, "Thank you for that. Mars? Could you get Sailor Venus for me?" she asked.

"Of course Your Majesty," Mars bowed and walked out, off to find Sailor Venus, snickering quietly to herself.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"Go on Hotaru, cure her, and let Chibi-usa die, go ahead," King Endymion threatened her.

"Why you manipulative, little," Setsuna began.

"No, he's right," Hotaru whispered.

"Of course he's not right! Hotaru you have to fix her!" Chibi-usa shouted.

"You…you…want me to fix her?" Hotaru looked at Chibi-usa scared.

Chibi-usa knelt beside her friend and took her arm, "She's a fellow senshi in need, and it's my responsibility as a senshi and yours to do whatever you can to help her. I'll give you my strength to fix her, take whatever you need."

"Chibi-usa you don't know what you're doing," the King told her pleading her to take it back.

"No you don't know what you're doing," Chibi-usa countered, "If I die doing this, or if I die helping any other senshi I'll die doing what's right."

"You'd die for them?" the King asked worried for his daughter.

"Any of us would die for each other," Haruka told him.

"And there was a time you would too, Mamoru would," Makoto told him.

"Things change," King Endymion told her spitefully, "If I die than there's no one to protect my family, if Chibi-usa dies there is no family, I have to protect us."

Usagi swung her head to stare at him wide-eyed, there was someone missing in that little scenario.

"Usagi, it's not like that, you can take of yourself, Chibi-usa can't," Endymion explained.

"Hotaru, please," Chibi-usa begged.

Hotaru nodded, and she sucked a light pink life force from Chibi-usa as her hair flew back, and her eyes began to glow. 

Slowly Ami opened her eyes, and Hotaru fell back with Chibi-usa, both of them drained from the process.

"Thank you," Hotaru whispered to Chibi-usa.

Chibi-usa nodded as Helios watched her worried, "I'm fine," she assured him, "Just tired."

He grasped her hand and let some of his own life energy flow into her. She felt strengthened and in turn gave some to Hotaru. When they were finished all four were good as new. 

Ami woke up with Endymion hovering over her, "Mercury Crystal Power Make Up!" she tried to transform but didn't have the strength. She quickly got up and got as far from him as she could.

"If we're going to be working together you have to trust me," Endymion told her.

"That might be hard to do, considering you tried to _kill _her," Rei emphasized.

"And I still would, but not without my past self's permission, and so far I haven't gotten it, so she's safe," even now just the site of her made Endymion wish over and over he didn't have to do this.

"You swear?" Ami asked quietly, not that she was sure she could take his word.

Endymion nodded, "I promise."

She nodded back, "Fine," and walked up with the other senshi, still wary.

"How many hours do you have Rei?" Endymion asked her.

"Sixteen," she responded hatefully.

"Wonderful," he mumbled, "Okay for the next sixteen hours no one steps outside this apartment, Mamoru might have already given us away, I was an idiot."

"You still are," Makoto muttered under her breath so that only Rei and Setsuna heard her. They nodded their heads in agreement.

Now Endymion had a chance to look around the room and noticed Helios, "What?" he asked smiling.

"Your daughter saved me, with her healing stone," Helios didn't feel like explaining everything.

Endymion laughed, "Good."

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"You called for me Majesty?" Sailor Venus asked walking into Serenity's chambers.

Serenity nodded, "Come and sit."

Venus walked in and took a seat on Serenity's bed. 

"You know the dream I've been having?" Serenity asked her.

Venus nodded.

"It's about something I did, a long time ago, something horrible, that I'm beginning to regret," Serenity began, "But if I tell you, you can't look down upon me or criticize, just advise."

Venus nodded again, silent, what had she done that could be that awful?

"It was right before I got pregnant with Chibi-usa, and Endymion and I were going through a rough spot, I thought he was going to leave me," she explained.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"Spying is bad, we shouldn't be doing this, we should," Sailor Mercury began to tell the other senshi about responsibility, when Jupiter commented. 

"Well than leave or shhh… because she's just beginning."

Mercury jumped up with the other senshi eager to hear the conversation and then walked away, "No, spying is bad, very bad," she scolded herself.

"Shhh!" Mars hissed.

She jumped up to the door again ready to hear the conversation.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"What do you mean you won't kill her without Mamoru's permission?!" Haruka demanded outraged as she stood in Mamoru's bedroom the other Outer's and Endymion discussing Ami.

"He won't ever give it to you," Michiru told him.

"He will if he needs to. He loves Chibi-usa almost as much as I do," Endymion told her. 

"But you know what really matters is how much he loves Ami and the other senshi," Haruka countered.

"Not more than Chibi-usa that's for sure," Hotaru responded.

"But what I don't understand is, no matter which way you do it there will be no Chibi-usa," Setsuna told them.

They all turned to stare at her.

"Think about it, if he does revive the Ocean's Rose, Chibi-usa will fade out of existence, but if he doesn't and all the senshi die then," Setsuna began.

"Usagi will be killed and there will be no one to give birth to her," Michiru finished.

Setsuna nodded.

Endymion stared at Setsuna horrified. Usagi had a clone too; he had forgotten about that.

"Then there's no other choice but to beat them. If the Inner Senshi can just be strong enough for one moment, give as much energy as Ami did, then it might be possible," Endymion prayed as he spoke.

The Outer Senshi nodded, and they all walked out.

Chibi-usa laid in Helios' arms and when they walked out Hotaru rolled her eyes to Endymion who was shutting the door, and they quickly separated. Chibi-usa whispered a quick thank you to Hotaru, and Hotaru smiled back.

"Makoto wake up it's almost eleven o'clock," Minako shook her awake.

Makoto sat up and blinked looking around. She counted senshi and noticing everyone there, with the exception of Mamoru, smiled, maybe they could do this.

"What have you decided?" Helios asked nervously; he didn't want to loose her.

"We're going to fight them," Haruka told him.

He almost died all over again, only with happiness this time, "Re..really?" 

Michiru nodded smiling at his expression.

Ami heaved a sigh of relief as did Chibi-usa.

Setsuna laughed and walked over to her student, "He's not going to kill you…trust me," she whispered.

Ami looked at her curiously, and Endymion watched Setsuna, scowling at her.

"Shouldn't someone go tell Rei?" Makoto asked.

Minako nodded and walked toward the bathroom to tell her.

"What about Mamoru? Shouldn't someone go and find him? He may be a threat to our plan," Haruka questioned.

"I'll go," Ami offered.

Everyone stared at her astounded she would offer.

"I need something to do," she smiled.

Endymion shook his head, "They know who you are, they'll find us. Helios you go."

"No!" Chibi-usa yelled standing up, "The enemy knows him too!"

"Small maiden calm down I'll be fine," he winked and walked out the door leaving Endymion looking at him suspiciously.

"Anyone up for breakfast?" Makoto asked destroying the silence that followed Helios' departure.

The Inner Senshi agreed immediately, and the Outer's looked at them curious at their anxiousness to eat.

"No one cooks like Makoto!" Usagi shouted.

"You should know, you've eaten enough of her cream puffs to make your head explode," Luna told her jumping onto Mamoru's counter with some difficulty.

"That's okay Minako's eaten so many that her head has turned _into _a creampuff," Artemis jumped beside her.

"Oh yeah?!" Minako demanded of her cat guardian, "How about if I grind you up into marshmallow fluff and make you a creampuff?"

Everyone laughed at this remark and agreed happily for the food.

"Oh no!" Chibi-usa shouted.

They all stared and gave her questioning glances.

"I left Diana at home when I went to have ice-cream with Ami! She's still there!" Chibi-usa shouted.

"Artemis," Luna jumped off the counter followed by Artemis.

"Who knows what kind of trouble she's giving Usagi's mom," Artemis and Luna ran out the door Haruka opened for them.


	7. Capture

Chapter 7: Capture

Mamoru walked around center Tokyo breathing in the scent of the ocean air. He sighed as he was reminded of water, linking directly back to Ami. 

Stop beating yourself up like this, he ordered himself, but he couldn't. No matter what he saw it linked back to Ami. An advertisement for the Sailor V game made him think of the senshi which made him think of Mercury. A computer store, a library, even the grocery store made him think of her. He resulted in looking down, causing him to run into Helios.

With his golden horn Helios looked suspicious. As everyone began to stop and stare, Helios saw Blackpearl walk up the street, "You're not dressed for the costume party _yet?_" Helios demanded grabbing Mamoru's arm and leading him into another street.

"What?" Mamoru questioned following him reluctantly. As Blackpearl walked up one street Nightdragon walked down another.

"Dammit, trapped," Mamoru whispered harshly.

Blackpearl and Nightdragon met in the middle of the street.

"Any sign?" Blackpearl asked her.

Nightdragon shook her head, "No, you?"

Blackpearl shrugged, and they turned and walked back out.

Pegasus flew above the clouds flying toward Mamoru's apartment.

"That was close," Mamoru commented.

"Too close. What were you thinking leaving like that?" Pegasus demanded.

"I…well…I…um," Mamoru stuttered.

"Prince tell me, and tell the truth," Pegasus ordered.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Sailor Venus shifted uncomfortably waiting for Serenity to begin again; she didn't like where this was headed.

Serenity sighed, and a tear fell down her cheek, staining her perfect complexion, "I didn't know what to do, I couldn't let him leave me. I thought the only way to get him to stay was to get pregnant, but I…I…couldn't, and so I, well I," Serenity stuttered.

Venus closed her eyes ready for the blow.

"I went to a bar and, I met this guy and I," Serenity couldn't finish.

Sailor Venus opened her eyes and sighed. She didn't ever think, never in a thousand years could she have believed anything like this would happen.

Serenity looked at the leader of the Inner Senshi pleading for advice.

Venus sighed and looked her right in the eyes, her own eyes tearing up, "You have to tell him Serenity. You can't let him go on living without telling him."

Serenity shook her head, "How can I do that? How can I tell Endymion that Chibi-usa isn't his daughter?"

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

The Inner Senshi walked away from the room shakily, "Did…did…you just hear what I did?" Jupiter questioned, stuttering hard.

Mars shook her head weakly, but it had hit Mercury the hardest. Why did it feel as if this was going to change her life forever?

"How?" Jupiter continued, "Why didn't she tell us?"

"More importantly why didn't she tell Endymion?!" Mars flamed.

"How or why doesn't matter now. We know, and Venus knows and Serenity knows, and soon enough Endymion will know. Because if she doesn't tell him I will," Mercury told them weakly.

They stared at her amazed, normally she would never do anything like that.

"He needs to know, this isn't some school girl secret, this is what he thinks to be his daughter," Mercury told them, and they nodded in agreement.

"You're right, but we won't let you tell him alone, as soon as he gets back we'll tell him, together," Jupiter put a hand on her shoulder.

"That might be too late, I have to go back to the past. He wouldn't tell us what he's doing there, but I think it may be serious. I have a feeling that this needs to come out, _now_," Mercury told them.

"What's wrong with you Mercury?" Mars asked worried.

"I just have this feeling," Mercury responded.

Jupiter nodded, "Should we tell Venus?" 

"I need you guys to stay here; I need someone to make an excuse for my absence, please. This is something I have to do alone," Mercury begged.

Jupiter and Mars looked at her concerned but said nothing, and nodded their heads in agreement.

"Thank you," Mercury ran through the palace on her way back to the past.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"Where are they?" Chibi-usa paced.

"Chibi-usa calm down it's only been half an hour," Rei laughed.

"Half an hour that he's not here," Chibi-usa muttered, and Hotaru giggled.

"She's got it bad," Makoto whispered to Minako who nodded in agreement.

Endymion turned to Makoto, "_What _are you talking about?" he demanded.

"Nothing, nothing," Makoto grinned.

"Don't worry about it, she's in very good hands," Minako smirked.

Ami laughed, "You two!" she scolded.

Chibi-usa turned to scowl at Makoto and Minako, "One word and I swear," she began.

"Calm down," Helios told her walking in.

She smiled warmly and sighed.

Endymion's eyes swung from her to Helios and back again, suspicious.

"Mamoru!" Usagi flew into his arms, and he embraced her hesitantly, seeing Ami's eyes.

Ami saw his stare and turned away.

Usagi looked up to kiss him, and he turned his head.

"Mamoru?" Usagi asked quietly.

"Hmm?" he asked looking down, not paying attention.

"What's wrong?" she questioned, "What aren't you telling me?"

Helios along with the other senshi, and Endymion watched and waited for the answer.

"Nothing," Mamoru responded all too calmly. His morals were getting lower by the minute; he was getting good at lying. He had lied to Helios only a little while before and now he was lying to Usagi.

"Are you sure?" Usagi inquired.

"Of course, I'm fine, just a little worried about all of you that's all," he told her some of the truth.

She smiled, "Don't be, we'll win."

"I hope so," Mamoru told her.

After a long moment of short silent prayers and cries for help Michiru announced to them, "Ami, Setsuna, Hotaru, Mamoru, Helios, may I speak to you?" 

They all nodded and followed her into Mamoru's room.

The other senshi went back to discussing common topics and laughing at Chibi-usa's obvious love bug. 

Endymion stared suspiciously at the Inner Senshi's jokes and teasing while Chibi-usa glared. He didn't understand anything they were saying, or was in denial of it.

 §§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"We need to plan, and we need to plan smart. I know that you're the best at planning. The other's will want to jump into this battle and fight to the death, but we can't do it that way. Sometimes it works, most of the time, but this time we need a serious plan, with a dangerous enemy," Michiru told them, and they nodded.

"Ami, can you get any information on your computer about the enemy?" Setsuna asked her.

"Maybe, let me see, Mamoru, get someone to go find  Luna. She could help us; she remembers them from the Silver Millenium," Ami instructed.

Mamoru nodded, and in a few minutes walked back in, "Makoto's on her way."

"While we're waiting for her we should examine all the Inner Senshi's powers, and find a good attack combination for them," Hotaru told them.

They nodded, and turned to Ami, who brought up all the Inner Senshi's attacks on her computer, and began telling them about which each one did.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Minako walked to Usagi's house and knocked on the door. 

Mrs. Tsukino answered it, "Minako!" she shouted. Her face was drained and pale from worry, and the sides of her hair shimmered with fresh tears.

"Mrs. Tsukino? Is something wrong?" Minako questioned.

"Don't you know? Usagi's missing," she sobbed, "We've looked for her everywhere; we're worried sick."

"Yes and it seems Chibi-usa disappeared without a trace too. Usagi I can see, but not Chibi-usa, not her," even Shingo, Usagi's younger brother, seemed worried to death about his missing sister, and "cousin".

"But your parents said when we called that you were supposed to be staying with us, and  Rei with Ami. We thought that something happened to you," Mr. Tsukino looked suspicious, but in a way relieved.

"Oh my God! Mr. Tsukino, Mrs. Tsukino, Shingo. I'm so sorry," Minako bowed laughing, "Usagi must have forgot to call you! We're staying with a friend for a few days, there's something going on with her family, and she and her mom had to move into a hotel, and we were asked to come and stay with her. None of us told our parents, I told my mom that I was staying with you. We weren't going to tell anyone because we didn't want anyone to know what she was going through. We thought that our plan was full-proof. Please forgive us for worrying you," Minako bowed making up the first story that came to mind.

"You mean, Usagi's with you?! And Chibi-usa?!" Mrs. Tsukino's eyes filled with joy, and she began to cry, "She's okay?"

Minako nodded bowing, "Please forgive me; we didn't think we'd worry you."

"Forgive you? Minako you just made us the happiest people in the world; we more than forgive you," Mrs. Tsukino told her.

The family sighed and Mrs. Tsukino calmed down slightly, "Now tell me how is your friend?"

"She's doing okay. They're holding up pretty good, but we might need a few more days. That's why I'm here actually, but Mrs. Tsukino please don't tell anyone, we don't anyone else to know. You can tell the other's parents but tell them not to tell either okay?" Minako questioned.

Mr. Tsukino nodded, "Of course we won't tell Minako."

"Thank you," Minako bowed.

"Now, about why you're here?" Mr. Tsukino asked.

"Because we're going to be staying there for a little while longer, Chibi-usa wanted me to check up on Diana. Artemis and Luna are with us or at least they were; they went out awhile ago. I was wondering if they were here," Minako told them.

"Yes they are actually. It was the strangest thing, I could have sworn I heard Diana saying something about Usagi not being missing. I don't know I must have been hearing things, I was so worried I could have made anything up, I mean a cat talking?" Mrs. Tsukino laughed, "They're up on Usagi's bed."

Minako smiled, walked in and thanked them again. She ran up to Usagi's room, and saw Artemis and Luna curled up on the bed snoring with Diana laying between them.

"Luna! Artemis!" Minako shouted waking them with a start.

"Mina-chan lower the decibels," Artemis complained.

"You were coming right over grabbing Diana and leaving," Minako informed them.

"Yes, but then we saw this comfortable warm bed, and we decided to take a cat nap," Artemis told her.

"Well your cat nap is over because you're needed. Why cats?" Minako muttered under her breath, angry with her guardian, "And you," Minako pointed at Diana, "Need to learn that civilians are not to hear talking cats."

Luna gave a look towards Diana, "What did you say to them?" she asked.

"Well Usagi's mom looked so worried about her, and she was crying, so I tried to explain that she was in good hands and not to worry," Diana told them.

"Diana!" Luna scolded her daughter, "They don't except talking cats! You can't let them know about you."

"It won't happen again," Diana muttered.

"That's what you said last time," Artemis informed her.

"But I really mean it this time!" Diana protested.

Minako rolled her eyes and picked Diana up as Luna and Artemis jumped off the bed.

"Minako?" Mrs. Tsukino walked in.

Minako smiled warmly.

"Please take these to your friend and the rest of the girls; they're fresh out of the oven," Mrs. Tsukino held a small bag of cookies out to Minako.

"I will, thank you," Minako smiled taking the bag and running out saying a quick goodbye to the Shingo and Mr. Tsukino on her way out. Luna and Artemis trailing her.

"Boy am I going to tell her off for that one, stupid Usagi forgot to call her parents. They were worried sick!" Minako flamed to the family of cats.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Fifteen hours later Ami got a room in a hotel, she was tired of searching, she needed some rest. She had been everywhere, to all the senshi's homes, all their old hangouts, or at least what she could remember of them. She couldn't find them anywhere. Where are you Endymion? she asked herself quietly.

"Hello," Seaharmony laughed as Ami walked to her room.

"Hi," Ami smiled, "Um do I know you?"

"Don't play dumb Mercury, just because you changed your outfit doesn't mean I don't know who you are," Seaharmony snarled viciously.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied. How did she know who she was? And more importantly what did she want from her?

"You're a horrible liar Mercury," Seaharmony laughed.

"I don't have any valuables with me, please, don't hurt me," Ami begged getting annoyed.

"I don't want anything from you, just your life, oh and maybe the Ocean's Rose," Seaharmony grabbed her from behind and searched her pockets, taking her Mercury Crystal, "No!" Ami shouted fighting for the crystal.

"Stop squirming!" Seaharmony shouted hitting her across her face, causing a red welt to slowly form; it was slowly replaced by a dark purple bruise. 

Ami kicked her in her shins and whipped around grabbing for her crystal.

Sunlash appeared and threw her whip around her arms restraining her.

"What do we do with her?" Nightdragon asked.

"Keep her, we'll use her as bait," Blackpearl laughed.

"Good idea," Seaharmony commented as they disappeared taking Ami with them.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"Finally," Rei sighed as she saw the clock hit her 24th hour, "Mars Crystal Power Make Up!" she shouted transforming in water, soaking her sailor outfit, "That was stupid, oh well I'll dry it later. "Spirits Fire Touch!" she shouted as the stone in her tiara began to glow and let out flames that engulfed and healed her. When she came out she was standing in the bathroom completely dry, "Good, less work," she smiled walking out to the living room.

It was late and only Setsuna and Ami were still awake, Ami beamed as Rei walked out, "Rei!"

Rei smiled, "Twenty-four hours is a _long _time," she admitted.

Setsuna laughed, and Rei came down and sat with them, "What's going on?"

"We're analyzing the information Luna and Helios gave to me on the Dark Senshi," Ami told her.

"Why?" Rei asked.

"So we'll know their weak points," Setsuna replied, "And their strong ones."

"Hit them hard enough and there will be no points left," Rei responded hatefully.

"Rei, you're a passionate fighter, but that's not enough this time," Setsuna told her softly.

Rei nodded and replied, "I trust Ami with my life, and if she trusts you with hers, I must also trust you, but that is not one of my strong points, so I'll leave it to you," she went and got another few blankets and lay down, "Plus I'm very tired."

"We're all tired. We'll go over the rest of this, and recap with the others tomorrow," Ami suggested putting her computer away and settling down.

Setsuna nodded in agreement, "Then we don't have to explain twice," and settled down as well. 

All three quickly fell asleep.

  



	8. Planning and Escape

Chapter 8: Planning and Escape

Ami looked around her frantically. She was in one room with windows on all sides. There was a bed in the center of the room, and a small table next to it. A door on the side led to a bathroom, with toilet, tub and sink. She couldn't see out the windows, but she was sure they could see in. Who were they? What did they want from her? They were obviously an enemy, but why did they seem so different, so, familiar? Questions raced through her mind as she tried to calm herself. She had to think of a way out, she had to think of a way to get her Mercury Crystal back, without it she was worthless. 

That's not true, something in her mind told her, without your Crystal you're not a senshi, but before you were a senshi you weren't worthless. Think Ami, think, it ordered her.

"Okay," she took a deep breath and exhaled. She went and sat on the bed trying to find a way out of this.

Seaharmony walked in and handed Ami her communicator, "Call the other senshi, tell the leader to go to the Tokyo Tower at 7:00 tomorrow morning. There will be a letter waiting for them," she ordered Ami.

Ami nodded, she flipped on her communicator and it fuzzed. She couldn't communicate through time and space. What was she thinking? "It's not working," she said quietly.

"What? Why?" Seaharmony demanded.

Ami almost screamed at her, Because I'm not the right person! but she held herself calm and responded, "You must have broken it."

Seaharmony glared, "Then you'll write a letter and tell us where the rest of the senshi are," she ordered.

"I don't know where they are," Ami replied, "And if I did I wouldn't tell you because you can't kill me, there's something you want from me."

Seaharmony scowled viciously.

Ami thought of another place they might be, a place she hadn't checked, "But if you get me a phone I could call them."

Seaharmony smiled cruelly and went off to find her a phone.

"I hope they're there," she wished quietly.

Seaharmony came back with a phone and threw it to Ami, "Five minutes," she told her and began to walk out.

Ami quickly asked for a phonebook, and Seaharmony muttered to herself running out to get it. She came back and handed it to Ami.

Ami quickly looked up Mamoru's number and dialed it.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

The phone rang, and Mamoru got up grumpily to get it, "Who would call this late?" he asked himself quietly looking at the clock; it was one in the morning.

He answered the phone, "Moshi moshi," he said sleepily.

"Mamoru? Are the rest of the senshi there?" Ami demanded.

"Who is this?" he asked, quickly waking up.  

"Listen to me, your new enemy has me here, and they say to go to the Tokyo Tower at 7:00 tomorrow morning to get a note, but only Sailor Venus can go. Do you understand me? It's urgent you tell Endymion this," Ami began quickly.

"No more!" Mamoru heard Seaharmony's voice shout and her slam her fist into whoever it was.

"No!" Ami shouted on the other line as it went dead.

The other's lost their anger when they saw Mamoru's face as he hung the phone up; it was drained of color.

"Mamoru?" Usagi asked.

"Someone knows where we are. They know that we're here, and I heard the enemy in the background, but the strangest thing was that whoever it was it sounded as if they were being beaten by the enemy, and it sounded like Ami, only, different. They tried to give me a message to give to you, Endymion, but they were cut off," Mamoru tried to explain.

"Sailor Mercury," Endymion's face drained of its color, "Someone sent her back to find me, and the enemy got her."

"What?" Ami questioned horrified.

"We've got to get her back," Minako balled up her fists.

"But we don't know where they are," Hotaru reminded them.

"Then we'll find them," Makoto said determined holding up her hand.

"No," Ami told her, "I'm glad you want to fight for me, but the best thing to do is go get that note tomorrow."

Setsuna and Michiru nodded in agreement, "She's right."

"But until then we need to get rest," Helios informed them.

Everyone eagerly agreed; they were all tired from the day and within minutes were sound asleep.

After Chibi-usa was sure everyone was asleep she snuck over and slid next to Helios.

"Small maiden," he whispered softly wrapping his arms tightly around her.

Chibi-usa smiled as he kissed the top of her head, and she fell asleep.

Helios stayed awake for a long time just watching her sleep, and somewhere deep in his heart he knew if something happened to her he wouldn't be able to live without her.

Eventually he fell asleep and was awakened when Chibi-usa pulled away from him. Hotaru was near her looking nervously over her shoulder toward the room where King Endymion slept.

Chibi-usa got up and crept back to where she was, looking back wistfully at Helios who smiled. She turned to thank Hotaru yet again.

Hotaru nodded and walked to the glass door to watch the sun come up.

Chibi-usa got up and walked over to her putting a hand on her arm and smiling.

Hotaru smiled back and Chibi-usa began, "Hotaru, you're such a great friend. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I'm glad we're fellow senshi, but I'm even more glad we're friends," Hotaru told her.

Chibi-usa nodded in agreement, and the two turned to watch the sun rise. The sky was dotted with pinks and oranges, blues and purples, a stroke of green and red, and a flaming yellow.

"Look we're in the sunrise," Hotaru told her.

Chibi-usa beamed, "We are aren't we?"

They laughed and talked as they waited for the others to wake up.

Usagi woke up at 6:30 the last senshi to arise, even she knew this wasn't a day to sleep in.

Minako paced, and Haruka scowled, "You're making _me _nervous," she told her.

"I'm sorry, but I just want to go," Minako couldn't stand still.

"You're sure you don't want anyone to come with you?" Makoto asked again.

"They said only me. They've got Mercury; we can't risk anything," Minako replied.

"Including being late, it's time," Michiru told her.

"Venus Crystal Power Make Up!" she shouted transforming and running out the door.  
§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Ami had been awake a long time before the sun had risen only sleeping a couple solid hours. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't think of a way of getting out with her Mercury Crystal; she didn't even know where it was. How could she leave without it though? 

Seaharmony walked in with a bowl of white rice and set it down in front of her along with a glass of water, "The transfer has been made," Seaharmony laughed.

"May, may I know where my Mercury Crystal is? Are you taking care of it?" Ami questioned.

"Oh it's in good hands, ours, forever," Seaharmony snickered walking out.

Ami tried not to cry, she had to think, but how could she get out of this? She lay on the bed and cried. "Endymion," she whispered sobbing.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Minako walked back into the apartment with the note in her hand. As she walked in everyone stood and she handed the note to Endymion. He opened it with shaking hands;

_We're going to generous and give you two options:_

_1. __Exchange the small girl with pink hair for Mercury or_

_2. __Meet us at Crossroads Park tomorrow midnight for a final battle, to the death._

_Leave and we will kill her, trick us and she dies, we'll see you there tomorrow for a trade or a fight either way we'll be waiting_

_Blackpearl, Sunlash, Nightdragon, Seaharmony_

_P.S. I'm back~ Firesnake_

"I _won't _let you take her," Helios stood in front of Chibi-usa and had Endymion not been frazzled he would have said something.

"Don't be stupid, we would never let anything happen to Chibi-usa," Rei growled.

Chibi-usa let out her breath.

"You didn't think we'd ever let anything hurt to you did you?" Ami asked smiling.

"No, no, no, it's just… what do they want with me?" she inquired

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Ami woke up with tear stains on her cheeks; she couldn't remember anything from the time Seaharmony came in. "Why can't I remember? What happened that my mind doesn't want me to remember?" she demanded herself.

"Oh you were just muttering things in your sleep," Seaharmony laughed walking in.

Ami glared, "What?!"

"Oh just things you shouldn't be saying you know, things about a certain King of Crystal Tokyo," she smiled viciously.

"What?" Ami whispered. Did she know? Did she know about Chibi-usa?

"Oh yes, I know all about your secret love for the King. It could be useful for when we go to Queen Serenity and demand control of Crystal Tokyo."

"You won't ever take Crystal Tokyo from us!" Ami shouted.

Seaharmony stepped back, "Us? And your love for the, King? Oh no!" she moaned, "We have the Sailor Mercury from the future?"

"What?!" Nightdragon shouted outraged appearing inside.

"The wrong one?" Blackpearl whined.

Seaharmony nodded, "But that's okay. They'll come anyway, and they know that we'll kill them, so they'll give us the Princess don't worry," Seaharmony assured them.

"They better because if you mess this one up Seaharmony," Sunlash began.

"Don't worry, I won't," Seaharmony promised.

"I'm watching you, we're all watching you. One more mess up and you're done, _permanently_," Sunlash threatened.

Seaharmony gulped and nodded as they disappeared.

She screamed at Ami outraged, "You didn't tell me you were from the future you stupid bitch!"

Ami smiled sweetly at the insult, "Why would I tell _you _anything? _You're _the enemy," she informed her.

"Because I have this," Seaharmony snapped her fingers, and Ami's Mercury Crystal appeared in front of her. 

Ami jumped for it but Seaharmony snatched it up, and smacked Ami across the face with the stone opening a gash in her cheek and fracturing her jaw. She fell to her hands and knees. She spit out blood and it mixed with tears of pain making a watery rust on the floor in front of her.

Seaharmony kicked her hard in the stomach, "Want it? Get up and fight!" she dared her.

Ami struggled to her feet and held up her fists.

"Oh the frail Mercury tries to fight without her precious gem, won't this be interesting?" Seaharmony mocked.

Ami whipped around and ran for the open door. She was halfway out when Seaharmony slammed it on her, and she collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Seaharmony kicked her already half broken ribs and muttered to herself, "Stupid fool," she drug her unconscious body inside the room and slammed the door.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"What if they do want more than the Ocean's Rose? What if they want Crystal Tokyo too?" Michiru asked Endymion quietly.

Endymion shook his head, "This can't be happening."

"Don't go into denial, not now, we need every mind in this one," Setsuna ordered.

"Because this _is _happening, and it's not going to go away," Hotaru added.

"What are we going to do?" Mamoru asked quietly.

"What we originally planned, assess the enemy and find their weak spots, get a plan and stick to it," Ami responded, "We're going to use the time they gave us to our advantage, and we're going to start planning now."

The three Outer Senshi who were in on the planning nodded, and they all walked back to Mamoru's room.

"What should we do?" Rei asked.

"We are going to wait, and see what to do. If anyone can think of a plan those four can," Haruka assured them.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Michiru, Setsuna, Hotaru, Mamoru, King Endymion and Helios sat in Mamoru's room as Ami told them everything about the enemies that she read from her computer:

_Blackpearl~ Weak against physical attack, but with her scepter she is nearly indestructible. The scepter she holds is extremely powerful and when it is used to it's full capability it can destroy the world. It can equal the power of the Silver Imperium Crystal, but is extremely difficult to use _

_Sunlash~ Known for her brutal and cruel ways of punishment and torture she is the most ruthless of the Dark Senshi. Her whip can torture opponents until death  She is not known for her intelligence however and can be easily tricked._

_Firesnake~ The most hateful of all the Dark Senshi. She's extremely violent, and likes to scorch her enemies with her boomerang which she named Ruby for the ruby's that make it. She will do anything for revenge and can be easily deceived for the price of that revenge. _

_Nightdragon~ The strongest of the Dark Senshi without a weapon, she prefers physical fights over those with weapons because you must get close to her for her weapon to be of use she's strong at close fights, but fights from afar she is weak in. Her weapon is a sword, and it summons the power of thunder to run through it as she pulls her downswing._

_Seaharmony~ She is the smartest of the Dark Senshi and is strong in her wit, but when it comes to attacks she is weaker than them all. She prefers fights from far away because she needs time for her waterspout attack that comes from her flute. She doesn't have time to build up a strong enough waterspout when she hits from close up so that is her weakness._

Ami finished and exchanged hopeful and satisfied glances; they knew exactly how to do this without words.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

"Get up!" Seaharmony shouted at the twice battered Ami the night of the fight. She was a doctor she knew that her bones were starting to heal improperly; that her body was covered in bruises and blisters. She had open gashes that needed stitches and even now trickled with blood and other cuts that were infected. She  could barely walk because her ribs hurt so badly, but she managed to stand. She didn't want Seaharmony or any of the others to hurt her anymore. 

Seaharmony disappeared with Ami and they reappeared in Crossroads Park it was night, a beautiful night, the stars were out and Ami looked to the moon. I don't care what Serenity's done I'll always protect her, she promised herself.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

The senshi walked to the park to find the Dark Senshi along with a battered Ami.

"Oh my God," Sailor Mars whispered seeing her.

"They'll pay for what they've done," Sailor Jupiter growled.

"We stick to the plan," Sailor Venus told them all.

They nodded in agreement, and walked toward the Dark Senshi.

"So have you made your decision?" Sunlash asked them.

"We fight, now, to the death, no running," Venus responded.

The Dark Senshi looked horrified but Sunlash smiled viciously, "The brave senshi decide to fight us? Well fine okay we can play."

"Jupiter Oak Evolution!" Jupiter knocked Nightdragon down from afar throwing her sword down and into the river.

"I'll kill you!" Nightdragon charged for Jupiter and threw punch after punch kick after kick as Jupiter blocked them. Nightdragon hit her hard in the shoulder, and Jupiter's left arm was left, dangling, useless. She winced but blocked Nightdragon's next punch and threw one of her own hitting her in the cheek. Her head was thrown back, and Jupiter punched her in the stomach causing her to keel over in pain. She elbowed her in the back and sent her to the ground. 

"Jupiter, Oak, Evolution!" Jupiter shouted but Nightdragon kicked her feet and Jupiter fell too. 

Tuxedo Mask threw a rose and knocked the Dark Opal Wand out of Blackpearl's grasps, and King Endymion picked it up.

"No!" Blackpearl shouted scared.

"Moon Gorgeous Meditation!" Sailor Moon shouted as her attack spiraled toward Blackpearl.

"Stupid!" Sunlash grabbed her and pulled her away from the attack. She threw her whip around Sailor Moon's wand and ripped it from her grasps.

"Sailor Moon, the crystal!"  Tuxedo Mask shouted, and she nodded pulling out the Silver Imperium Crystal. A pink glow surrounded her and spiraled toward Blackpearl and Sunlash. Sunlash jumped out of the way, but Blackpearl was incinerated by the crystal. 

"I believe that you want me for something," Sailor Uranus smiled viciously taunting Firesnake.

"You!" she shouted furious. She threw her boomerang at Uranus who jumped it. 

"Mars Flame Sniper!" Sailor Mars hit Firesnake in the back throwing her to the ground causing her boomerang to go spiraling past her and into a nearby tree. 

"Got it!" Sailor Neptune pried the weapon out of the tree and smiled happily.

Uranus winked and jumped out of the fight, Neptune behind her.

Firesnake charged toward Sailor Mars throwing her to the ground and crushing a lung. She tried desperately to avoid the blows being given to her by the Dark Senshi on top of her. 

"Venus Love Me Chain!" Venus whipped her chain around Firesnake pulling her off Mars. 

Sunlash whipped Venus over and over again tattering her Sailor Outfit and forcing her slowly to the ground.

Mars stood and held her arrow to Firesnake, "Mars Flame Sniper," she breathed quietly her voice rasping from her collapsed lung. She let the arrow go, and it killed Firesnake immediately.

Nightdragon held Jupiter's wrists tightly cutting off blood flow to her hands. She threw her like a rag doll to the ground, the grass caught her fall some, and she struggled up bruised and battered, "Jupiter, Oak, Evolution," she was weak but she hit her attacker dead on and threw her into a tree. She slid to the base, unconscious.

"Jupiter, Oak," Jupiter collapsed from the use of energy.

"Jupiter!" Mercury shouted; she had to help her friend. She turned, but Seaharmony hit her with a small waterspout in the back sending her to the ground. She pulled herself back up and dove for Jupiter. She pulled the stone from Jupiter's tiara and shoved it into her hand  Jupiter realizing she had to say words smiled and began, "Forest's Thunder Wish," she relaxed, relieved as the ball of thunder pulled her into it and cured her of her wounds. She stood and began hatefully, "Jupiter, Oak Evolution!" she shouted, destroying Nightdragon, leaving only Sunlash and Seaharmony.

Sunlash had Venus to the ground and Tuxedo Mask threw a rose into her whip freezing it. When she had it free again she turned on him and threw it around him throwing him to the ground. She lashed him again and again beating his mask off his face and tearing his cape. He couldn't even move from the spot. 

"You and your stupid senshi friends will pay for what you've done to the others!" Sunlash screamed as she beat him over and over. 

He held up his arms in a weak defense, and she threw her whip around them and yanked up breaking them. He screamed in pain and winced horribly.

"Mercury Aqua Illusion!" Mercury froze Sunlash's whip long enough for Tuxedo Mask to crawl away, but in her absence, Seaharmony created a waterspout and threw her to the ground. Once more, she struggled to stand, there was fluid in her lungs; they must be punctured, how though? She looked underneath her and noticed she had fallen onto a pointed rose that had gone through one of her lungs. She stood and pulled it out as the thorns stuck in her lung.

The senshi looked at her horrified, and she smiled weakly letting them know she was okay, for now.

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody," Mercury shot the water toward Seaharmony throwing her to the ground.

"Mercury, Aqua Illusion," she was getting weaker; her attack froze Seaharmony's arm solid.

She whimpered in fear of the approaching Mercury. She bled freely from her wounds and there was a tired sense of revenge in her eyes. It was going to be over, now.

"Mercury, Aqua, Mirage," she whispered as her stream of water spiraled toward the paralyzed Seaharmony killing her.

Venus stood shakily and pulled out her chain of roses, "Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" she was furious about the injuries of her friends and she beat Sunlash to the ground, and eventually to death, "Crystal, Love, Kiss," she whispered healing herself in the heat of love.

Sailor Mercury knew she had to be healed, but Tuxedo Mask needed it too. He was going to die, what could she do? She slowly walked toward the battered Tuxedo Mask and pulled the stone from her tiara discarding her tiara completely. It skidded away from her, and she held the stone in her hands. Carefully she placed it in his, "Ocean Aqua Healing," she said softly.

"No," Tuxedo Mask tried to protest. She shook her head and tried to get up from the healing process but collapsed.

"Ami!" he shouted reaching for her. He didn't care anymore, all that mattered was him saving her.

He grasped her hand and gave her her stone but it was too late. It had already begun to work, and he was being healed as she died, for him.

"No!" he shouted holding her hand, praying that she didn't die in front of him.

"Mamoru?!" Sailor Moon demanded furiously, but he didn't hear her, all he heard was his heart and the water rushing through him. 

Ami coughed up blood and tried to breathe but couldn't, there was too much fluid in her lungs.

"No!" he shouted. A tear slid down his cheek and onto her stone, which lie between their hands. It crystallized and formed another crystal. A small blue rose. His eyes widened at its appearance.

"No!" Helios and King Endymion shouted as Hotaru began to sob. 

Ami rose from the ground and was cloaked in ribbons of water as she was healed and transformed again. She came to the ground wearing a long blue gown that flowed like a river and was made of beautiful blue fabric. It fell to her ankles and had a train. She wore a small blue rose in her hair, and white gloves that came to her elbows.

"What?" she asked quietly as the rose soared to her.

"The Ocean's Rose," King Endymion said quietly begging Chibi-usa to forgive him.

  



	9. The Ocean's Rose

Chapter 9: The Ocean's Rose

"No! This can't happen! We defeated them!" Helios shouted.

"It doesn't matter it happened. I'm sorry Chibi-usa," Sailor Uranus said quietly.

Chibi-usa nodded solemnly and began to raise her hand; she wanted to die a senshi.

"No!" Ami shouted as loud as she could.

"What?" King Endymion and Helios shouted turning to her.

"That's why I came here, I came here to tell you," she held her ribs and keeled over spitting out blood. She stood and began again, "The senshi and I overheard a conversation with Queen Serenity and Sailor Venus the other day, a serious conversation about Chibi-usa," Ami tried to begin, but this wasn't how she had planned to tell him.

"Go on," Helios begged.

"She was telling Venus, about a time she was worried you would leave her. She thought the only way to get you to stay with her was to get pregnant, but she couldn't, so she went out. She found some guy at a bar and nine months later Chibi-usa was born," Ami told him quietly.

"What!?" King Endymion breathed furiously. How could this happen?

"That means Chibi-usa is safe," Helios said quietly, "But it changes everything."

"He's not, he's not my father?" Chibi-usa asked softly. Why hadn't her mother told her this?

Ami shook her head, "I'm sorry Chibi-usa, but you're safe now," she told her.

Helios turned to Ami and Mamoru, "Ami, there was a time long ago, back in the Silver Millenium, you and Prince Endymion were in love, and you were forced apart because of the marriage agreement with the Earth and the Moon. Prince Endymion gave you a crystal sapphire rose and promised that when it was revived he would be back to stay, forever," Helios explained quietly, "Princess Mercury, Prince Endymion, your path is yours to choose."

Mamoru felt a heavy weight fall from his shoulders, but it was quickly replaced by another, "I am to choose between Usagi and Ami?" he asked quietly.

Helios nodded solemnly.

Mamoru looked from Usagi's pleading eyes to Ami's gentle ones. Usagi needed him, Ami didn't, but he loved Ami now and then, and not Usagi. He would have to break one of their hearts and maybe his own. 

He looked toward Usagi. She knew what was coming, "Usagi you're a great person, but I've never truly loved you, and it's not fair to you that you have to live a lie; it's not fair to either of us," he tried to explain.

Usagi took off running full speed.

"Usagi!" he ran after her.

He ran into the streets trying to find her, she could be anywhere. What had he done?

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Venus walked solemnly out of her room, tears in her eyes. Mars and Jupiter looked at her worried.

"Neo-Queen Serenity is dead," she said quietly, "She stabbed herself in the heart."

Mars and Jupiter looked shocked and then saddened, "Why?" they asked quietly.

"She couldn't stand the fact that she had kept Endymion from his happiness," Venus tried to explain.

"She was selfish! She couldn't live without him so she killed herself! She didn't even think what it would do to the rest of us!" Mars shouted wiping her tears and running down the hall outraged.

Jupiter nodded, "She's right," she said softly trying to stop the tears.

"I know," Venus tried to be strong.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

Mamoru walked out of the alley and into the park with Usagi in his arms. Blood stained her sailor outfit and ran onto his arms.

"What?" Princess Mercury shook her head.

"She killed herself, stabbed herself in the heart," Mamoru said quietly.

"What?!" Everyone demanded outraged. Soon fury turned to tears and lastly to explanation.

"Chibi-usa exists now, but in the future she will not," Endymion said quietly.

Chibi-usa nodded solemnly; she would get to live her life.

Sailor Pluto appeared in front of them, "I have some bad news," she began, "Oh my…" she trailed off seeing Usagi's limp body.

"She killed herself," was the explanation Pluto received from Uranus.

"Neo-Queen Serenity is dead," Pluto said quietly, "She stabbed herself, Venus was at the gates of time to tell me."

"What?!" Endymion shouted outraged.

"Mommy?" Chibi-usa asked meekly.

Helios held her as she sobbed.

§§§~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~§§§

The funerals for the two were beautiful, the senshi were all there past and present accepting sympathy.

In the past the senshi explained themselves to their parents; they showed them their transformation, explained everything that had happened and then went out to be alone, as they wished their Moon Princess one final goodbye.

Mamoru held Ami close as she cried; they both took responsibility for her death. They knew they couldn't help it, but it still killed them.

Slowly they began to revive their lives, they still held weekly scout meetings, and with time they began to become an Inner Senshi again. 

After the funeral the Outer Senshi went home, but every once in awhile they came in to wish them well.

Makoto went back to chasing boys, Rei back to tending her temple, Minako back to her goal of stardom, and Mamoru and Ami back to their studies, seeing each other on the side. They went back to their normal lives, and lived happily, never forgetting their Moon Princess, always loving her, but living happily with her memories safely tucked away in their hearts.

When Queen Ami and King Endymion learned they would have their first child many years later they were thrilled, but the memory of Chibi-usa and her mother hurt.

When Ami gave birth they were given a miracle, out came a little girl with bright red eyes and cotton-candy pink hair coating just the top of her head.

Ami cried and Endymion was overjoyed; they were given Chibi-usa back.

Ami whispered a thank you to Usagi and Serenity and promised them again that no matter what she would always protect them, and their daughter.


End file.
